


Cursed Beyond Cursed

by Workingtolive4you



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2001), Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 09:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 44,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23849047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Workingtolive4you/pseuds/Workingtolive4you
Summary: The Sohma family hides a secret from the world. The head family hides many secrets from the Sohma's. Lies, manipulation and an iron grip run deep in the main house. Etsuko, Akito's younger sister, must endure living with Akito, but when is it her turn to be happy?
Kudos: 6





	1. Moving Out

Man what a long day…

A girl with long black hair thought to herself as she threw the brown looking brief case over her shoulder. She had on her school uniform, a black, knee length skirt, and a simply white blouse with a black jacket over it. As she approached a large wooden gate, her dark brown eyes glanced at the residence name Sohma. Letting out a sigh she placed her hand on the door knob and let herself in.

Good, people are gone… Making her way towards the largest home she noticed an old woman peeking out through a slightly opened door. The girl stopped walking and stared at the woman; she dropped her briefcase and suddenly jolted towards the door.

"Don't you dare shut that door!" Stretching out her hand, her long fingers had almost gotten a grasp on the door knob only to see the very same door slam and lock. "DAMNI…DAMN …DAMN! Let me in right now!"

"I'm sorry miss Sohma…your brother told me not to let you in." An old withering voice came from inside the house.

"Listen you decrepit old woman, either let me in…or I'll burn this whole god damn place to the ground!"

"Now, Etsuko, is that any way to ask for something?"

She turned her head to look disgustingly at a man lying against the window sill. "I shouldn't have to ask Akito…after all I live here to."

A weak laugh escaped Akitos' mouth. "I allow you to live here, and today I've decided to prohibit you from entering."

Etsuko closed her eyes, this wasn't anything new to her, Akito had done this before and a week or so later he'd allow her to come back. Well this time I'm not coming back

"Go ahead and kick me out, I don't want to live here, I'll find somewhere else to stay!" Etsuko spun herself around and stomped towards her brief case she had dropped earlier. Picking it up, clutching the handle tightly, she angrily made her way to the main entrance and let herself out slamming the door behind her.

Akito watched his little sister leave with a solace look on his face. "She'll be back...if she wants these." He pulled out a small orange container filled with pills and rattled it.

*At Shigures' House*

"Kyo, Yuki, Shigure, dinner time." A sweet voice filled the house as Tohru placed the last of the smoked salmon on the table.

Shigure was the first at the table taking in all the wonderful smells and letting out a sigh. "Tohru you've out done yourself once again."

"Out of my you damn rat!" the orange haired boy yelled as he was shoulder to shoulder with Yuki as they both tried to walk down the stairs at the same time.

"Why don't you just wait till I get down the stairs you stupid cat?" Yuki was in no mood to bicker with Kyo tonight, but he wasn't going to let him beat him down the stairs.

"Oh like I'd let you go ahead of me! I was here first-" His sentence was cut short as he was sent flying down the stairs head first.

"There…" Yuki said matter-of-factly as he stepped over Kyo and made his way towards the dinner table.

Kyo lifted himself up, and stomped his way to the table, when Yuki was in his mood he knew better than to aggravate him further.

"I made everyone's favorite tonight, I hope you en-" Tohru was interrupted by a knock at the door. "I wonder who it could be." She got up from the table and made her way towards the front door, as she opened the door Etsuko barged in with a few shopping bags dropping them on the ground.

"Hey take care of these will ya?" She smiled at Tohru and walked past her towards the table full of food. "Oh good, you're just getting started, I'm starving!" She picked up a pair of chopsticks and made her way towards the smoked fish but a sharp pain coming from her wrist stopped her from going any further.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kyo had grabbed her wrist. "You can't just barge in here like you own the place, and you defiantly can't treat Tohru like one of your maids."

Pain was running through Etsuko's wrist, it was still sore from a few days ago when Akito had squeezed it near breaking point. Not able to take the pain anymore she brought her other hand and punched him in the nose. "Let me go!"

Kyo instantly released her wrist and brought his hands up to his nose, tears forming in his eyes. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Ignoring his question Etsuko stood back up and turned towards Tohru who had been watching from the door frame. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's right." She bowed "I didn't introduce myself, my name is Etsuko Sohma it's nice to meet you."

Tohru bowed in return. "Oh it's very nice to meet you. So you're a Sohma…does that mean you transform like the others? Well I guess that doesn't make much sense, I met all twelve of the zodiac and Kyo makes thirteen…oh maybe there's another animal that didn't get invited to the banquet."

Etsuko just stared at her as she babbled on. "Uh no, I'm not cursed like my cousins…"

"Does Akito know you're here?" Shigure butted in.

Etsuko's hands turned into fists as her body physically tensed up. "Akito? I've never heard of the bastard!"

Shigure shrugged. "Regardless, I will have to call Hatori and let him know-" He was caught short by a kick in the head causing his face to land in a bowl of rice.

"If you call him, I'll be forced to come back here while you sleep and cut off every limb from your body…and I mean every limb. Got it?"

He lifted one of his hands and formed a shaky thumbs up and a slight nod.

I wonder why she doesn't want Hatori to know she's here. Tohru thought to herself, but soon snapped out of it and looked down at the bags that Etsuko had dropped off. "Uhm, Etsuko will you be staying the night?"

"Like hell she is!" Kyo jolted up from the table "If she stays then I swear I'm going back to the mountains!"

"Go ahead, no one's stopping you." Yuki muttered before he placed some rice into his mouth.

"God Damn it you're really starting to piss me off you stupid rat!" He grabbed the collar of Yuki's shirt and lifted him to his feet.

"And you've been on my nerves since you came back."

Etsuko watched the two fight for some time before turning her attention back at Tohru. "Oh yea, I was just planning to stay for a little bit…if that's okay with Shigure."

Shigure stood up from the table and stood next to Etsuko. "It's fine, as long as you think you'll be okay without your medicine."

"Well if you need medicine I can go and get some, it's not a problem." Tohru scurried around as she looked for her jacket.

"Uh, this is different kind of medicine…I'll be fine without it, really it's not a big deal." Etsuko said as she tried to calm Tohru down. "Besides it's late and if I really need it…Hatori can bring it over."

"A-are you sure?"

"Positive. I'll just take my bags and head up to your room, if you're fine with sharing."

Tohru nodded her head. "Oh it's fine, I'd be happy to share a room with you."

Etsuko bent down and picked up her bag and made her way up the stairs and found her way into Tohru's room. As she placed the bags on the floor she walked towards and the bed and sat on the edge and stared at her slightly swollen wrist.

*Flash Back*

"I told you never keep me waiting!" Akito screamed as he shoved Etsuko into the wall and pinned her wrist above her head.

"You're hurting me." Etsuko let out a whimper.

His grip on her only tightened as a sick smile was plastered on his face. "Oh I am? Well good, now you know how I felt when you missed our daily tea."

She could feel his grip on her right wrist was getting tighter and tighter, the bones felt as if they were seconds from snapping in half. "I-I'm sorry…"

"Sorry? Sorry doesn't fix anything, when you say sorry it doesn't teach you a lesson…only punishment will. You're lucky that you're my sister or else this inexcusable action wouldn't be tolerated."

She was then thrown to the ground, landing on her right wrist with all her body weight. Tears began to run down her face. He walked around her, his feet by her face, he cupped her chin and brought her up into a sitting position, her head tilted back enough so he could look into her eyes.

"Now, next time don't be late or else were going to have this conversation in the room."

Her eyes widened as he nodded. As he let go of her chin she stood up slowly and bowed before hurrying out of his room and into her own.

*End Flashback*

Etsuko's head jerked up as the door creaked opened. Tohru popped her head in and then her whole body. "I hope I'm not bothering you, but I'm just here to put down a mat so I can sleep later tonight."

"You don't have to sleep on the ground…I'll do it."

"Oh no, it's okay really. You're the guest so you can have my bed."

This girl was getting on Etsuko's nerves. "Listen, I'm technically the guest so I'll sleep on the floor, and you sleep on the bed."

"B-but you're just staying here for a bit, please take my bed."

Etsuko eye twitched a bit, she stood up from the bed and walked towards Tohru grabbed the mat from her, placed it on the ground and sat on it. "It's settled I'm sleeping here…now drop it."

"O-okay." Tohru smiled as she knelt on the ground in front of Etsuko. "So I hope I'm not prying or anything but…if you're not one of the zodiac, how do you know Akito?"

She knew this question was going to be brought up sooner or later. Letting out a sigh Etsuko ruffled through her bags as she began to explain. "We'll…how do I put this…Akito is my…brother."

"Really? I didn't know Akito had any siblings."

She pulled out a long blue night gown and stood up. "The family doesn't really talk about it much. It's a long story it would take too long to explain it, so I guess you'll just have to figure it out on your own." With that being said Etsuko made her way out the door down the hall and into the bathroom. Closing the door behind her she drew some water and got undressed, the scars on her back were reflected by the mirror.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, I know it wasn't very dark for the majority of the time, but as the story progresses and secrets are exposed the story will get a bit more depressing. I'm not sure how well they'll turn out to be but it'll be fun to try this new style of writing! (Oh and about the whole tea thing with Akito…it'll be explained later on)


	2. The Pill

"You're stupid, do you know that?" Akito stood up from behind the table in his room, making his way to the other side standing in front of Etsuko. "Thinking you could make friends with the rest of the family. They hate you because they hate me." His hand swooped down and gently rested on her check. "I'm the only one who likes you; I'm the only one you can talk to."

The smell of grilled fish woke Etsuko from her sleep, sitting up she rubbed her eyes. "…I'm starving…" She looked to the side of her where Tohru's bed was, only to see it neatly made. Getting up; she slid the door open and made her way down the stairs, the wonderful smell getting stronger.

"Oh Etsuko, you're up." Tohru smiled as she walked towards the table placing the last of the food down. "I hope you slept well."

"Yep." Etsuko kneeled at the table and began to eat.

I know it's not any of my business, but I can't help feel that I did something wrong to make Etsuko…angry at me." Tohru continued to look at Etsuko, who had seemed less lively today.

"You all better get a move on, or you'll be late for school." Shigure chimed, breaking Tohru's train of thought.

"Oh your right! I completely forgot about school!" She stood up and scurried around looking for her bag.

Kyo noticed her bag up against the wall just by the door, sighing he picked it up and held it out for her. "Here"

Tohru stopped and looked at Kyo. "Thank you Kyo"

"Yea…well keep better track of your stuff...Kay?"

"Y-yes." The three of them all headed for the door. Tohru stopped; turned around to look at Etsuko still sitting at the table. "Um aren't you coming to school to?"

Etsuko only shook her head slowly poking the untouched food in front of her.

"I hope you're feeling all right, you don't have a fever do you? I could stay home and-"

Shigure popped up beside her and turned Tohru around and gently pushed her out the door. "There's no need for you to miss a day of school. Etsuko goes to an all-girls school; it's a bit far so I'll just drive her there."

As she was being pushed out, Tohru kept looking behind her worryingly. "I-if you're sure…"

"Positive, now go on don't want to keep Yuki and Kyo waiting do you?"

Tohru looked to Kyo and Yuki, both a few feet ahead of her waiting, Kyo looking annoyed and Yuki looking patiently. "N-no of course not. All right well be safe." She ran off to catch up with the other two.

"Well it's about time!" Kyo stomped off once Tohru was close enough.

"I'm sorry…"

"No need to apologize especially to the stupid cat." Yuki smiled as he walked next to her.

"Who're you calling stupid?" Kyo snapped back around.

"I didn't stutter, or maybe you're deaf and dumb."

"That's it I'm going to kick your girly little ass!"

"I'd like to see you try." Yuki walked passed him poised as Tohru continued to freak out about them fighting,

Shigure watched them from the door until they were out of his sight. He let out a small sigh and slid the door shut.

"I'm not going." A gloomy voice filled the room.

Shigure came back to the table. "Hmm what do you mean?"

Etsuko never looked up from her plate. "School…I'm not going to school."

"Not like that you're not…we don't have any of your medicine here I'll just have to call up Hatori and see if can't swing by"

Normally Etsuko would have protested but instead she let out a sigh and stood up. "Whatever." She walked out of the room and walked back up stairs.

Shigure picked up the phone and called the main house. "Oh Hatori, you picked up I'm so glad! I need you to come by the house immediately; I've got some juicy secrets to tell you!"

On the other end, Hatori leaned back in his swivel chair. "If you're not going to be serious stop calling here…I'm hanging up now."

"No wait! Hari, I was just joking, but I do need you here. It's Etsuko…it's started." Shigures joyful tone quickly became serious.

"I see, so she's been hiding out at your house. It's only been a day has she already relapsed? I see I'll be there as soon as I'm giving the others their flu shots." He hung up the phone and grabbed the little orange bottle with Etsuko's name on it.

*With Kyo, Yuki, Tohru.*

They had made it to school early and had some time to spare before classes started, Kyo went to sit in class, fed up with Yuki, while Tohru and Yuki stood by a cherry blossom tree.

"Miss. Honda, are you feeling well? You've been quiet this morning." Yuki placed the back of his hand on her forehead.

"What….oh no I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you worry like that. I'm fine." Her face turned a light shade of red from embarrassment. "It's just…well I know it's not any of my business but today Etsuko didn't seem like herself today."

Yuki removed his hand from her forehead. He knew she would ask that sooner or later. "Well you see Miss. Honda, what you saw this morning was more like Etsuko than what you saw last night."

Tohru looked up at Yuki confused. "But she seemed…lonely."

"Ever since we were children Etsuko has always seemed that way. I don't know too much about why she's like that I just know if she doesn't take her medicine that she slowly becomes more and more depressed."

Tohru looked down at the ground. "That's…so sad."

Yuki noticed how this conversation was getting darker and he didn't want to make Tohru feel bad. "But as long as she takes her medicine her sadness seems to disappear and a happier Etsuko comes out."

"Not being able to feel happy on your own, needing a pill to make you feel happy. I wonder just how much she is hurting, how much she's bottling up inside."

The bell rang notifying the students it was time to head in for class. Yuki didn't mean to make Tohru feel sad and as they both walked into the building he began to think how Etsuko really must feel.

*Shigure's house*

Hatori drove up to Shigure's house, holding his brief case and wearing his white lab coat. Opening the unlocked door he took his shoes off and stepped inside.

"Oh Hari you're just in time! Etsuko is starting to get me all depressed, talking about killing herself and things." Shigure tugged on the sleeve of Hatori's lab coat.

Finding this little piece of information alarming, he shot a glare at Shigure. "Where is she?"

"She said something about taking a bath…drowning in her sorrow…I think."

Hatori pushed Shigure off of him. "Do you really have no understanding on clinically depressed people?" He made his way up stairs and tried to open the bathroom door only to find it locked. "Etsuko open this door right now."

There was no answer, Hatori pressed his ear against the door and heard nothing as well. He jiggled the door knob, trying to break the lock. "Etsuko I said open this door." His voice became louder.

"I can't…" Etsuko said hiding behind the door to Tohru's room. "I tried but I think Shigure locked it."

So he does know what to do…Hatori thought to himself, feeling a bit exhausted he let go of the door knob and made his way into Tohru's room.

Etsuko glumly sat on the bed as Hatori moved the chair from the desk to the bed side. He sat down in front of her and opened his bag pulling out the orange container, a needle, and a tiny glass bottle filled with clear liquid.

"What would you like first, the flu vaccine or your medicine?"

Etsuko pointed to the vaccine. Hatori nodded and pulled up one of her sleeves and warped a rubber band tightly around her bicep. He placed his forefinger and middle finger on her arm, where her elbow bent and felt for a pulse. Once he found one he filled the needle with the liquid and gently poked her skin and injected the vaccine into her, quickly placing a bandage on it once he had finished.

"Now that's done…" He picked the orange bottle and took the cap off pouring out one little white pill onto his hand and brought it up to Etsuko. "Here take this."

Etsuko only looked at the pill, she shook her head.

They went through this every time, Hatori pulled his hand back and looked at Etsuko with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "You know what I'm going to say don't you? We can do this the easy way or we can do this my way Etsuko, it makes no difference to me."

Etsuko flopped down on Tohru's bed ignoring Hatori's little threat.

"I see…" He stood up and loomed over her body, his knee between her legs, while the other leg was against the bed. A hand came down and pinched the sides of her nose together gentle enough not to hurt her by tightly enough to stop the air flow. If she wanted to breathe she would have to open her mouth.

Etsuko was able to keep her breath held longer this time, but after only a few seconds she started to feel her face turn red from the lack of oxygen. Her head felt lighter and her vision became somewhat blurry to her. She had no choice but to open her mouth and as she did Hatori's other hand quickly popped the pill in her mouth.

Making sure she wouldn't spit it out He kept his hold on her nose and placed his other hand across her mouth. "All you have to do it swallow and I'll lift my hands." He watched Etsuko swallow the pill regretfully, and as he promised he let go and allowed her to breathe once more.

Shigure walked by and noticed Hatori's position and snickered. "I didn't know you were so kinky Hari."

Hatori pushed himself off the bed and picked up his briefcase. "It's your turn, pull up your sleeve."

Not knowing what he was talking about Shigure obliged happily. The rubber band was wrapped around his arm and once the needle was ready Hatori stuck the needle in without warning. He slapped on a band aid. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend to elsewhere." Before he left he looked back at Etsuko, who was still lying on the bed.

"You're so mean Hatori; you don't just stab the others with needles." Shigure rubbed his arm while tears ran down his face.

"I'll be back as soon as possible for Kyo and Yuki's shot. Also I left a bottle of Etsuko's pills make sure she takes one every morning." With that he walked past the crying Shigure and put his shoes back on and left the house.

"So, how was she? Is she still alive?" A mocking voice came from the back.

Hatori looked into his mirror, and stared at Akito. "Yes, she's still alive."

"Shame" Akito turned and looked out the window as they drove back to the main house.

*Later that day*

As Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru walked through the door of the house they were greeted by an enthusiastic Etsuko.

"Welcome home everyone! I'm so glad you made it before the food got cold." She grabbed everyone's book bag and neatly placed them against the wall. "I hope you're hungry, since I didn't know what everyone liked I just made a little bit of everything."

"Well at least she's back to normal" Kyo muttered as he walked into the eating area. His mouth fell opened as he saw the table covered with open-handed food.

"Oh wow you made all of this?" Tohru asked while she kneelt by the table and marveled at how pretty the food was.

"Yep, I hope you all like it."

Yuki stared at the table before joining Tohru. "Etsuko you really didn't have to do this."

"I know but I felt so bad for treating Tohru so rudely last night that I had to find a way to apologize."

"So you thought food was the answer, why not just say you're sorry? There's no way in hell we can eat all of this! It's a waste of food." Kyo flopped down and picked up chopsticks and began shoving food in his mouth.

Etsuko nodded. "You're right Kyo…I'm sorry I wasn't thinking very clearly. Tohru I'm sorry I didn't mean to waste all this food like this."

"Oh no, no, no you don't have to apologize. This food will keep and we'll just have lots of left overs." Tohru reinsured her. "I'm just happy to see you more energetic."

Etsuko let out a laugh and nodded. "Yea well sometimes I get into moods like that. I hope I didn't worry you."

The five of them all sat down for dinner, sharing stories, yelling, and laughter. Once the dishes were done, Kyo, Yuki and Tohru went upstairs to study. Etsuko stayed down stairs looking for Shigure.

Walking up to the door where he writes, Etsuko slid it open to find him fiddling with a pencil. "Sorry to bother you Shigure, I'll come back later."

Craving any kind of attention Shigure waved her in. "No, no you're not bother me at all. I was just taking a break. What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would do me a favor."

Shigure tilted his head to the side. "I'll see what I can do."

"I wanted to go to the same school as the others…Kyo and Yuki oh and Tohru that is." Etsuko blushed slightly as she looked away from Shigure.

"You don't enjoy you're other school?"

"It's not that…I just really want to be friends with Tohru, and maybe if we go to the same school I'd get to know her better that way." Etsuko suddenly slammed her hands on his desk and looked at him determined.

Shigure just smiled and nodded. "I'll call the school, I think they're still open, and inform the main house. Okay?"

Smiling she nodded. "Thank you, oh but I don't have a uniform…"

"Well if you don't mind walking into school with an old man, I'll take you in and get your uniform and classes all settled tomorrow."

"Thanks' Shigure, you're the best I don't know what I would do without you." Etsuko giggled and walked out.

I can't wait until tomorrow; this is going to be so much fun.

Etsuko opened the door to Tohru's room and saw the mat she had slept on was occupied by a sleeping Tohru. She smiled and picked up the books that were on the ground and placed them on her desk. Not wanting to wake up Tohru, she gently made her way into the bed and turned the lights off drifting off to sleep.


	3. Trust Issues

What a beautiful day it turned out to be. Etsuko stared out the window from Tohru's room. Today was her first day at her new school, Hatori called and instructed that Shigure stay home, he would come by and take care of all the preparations himself. The others had already left, and Tohru promised to make sure and greet her once she got there.

The door slid open, Shigure walked in holding the orange bottle. "Good morning, I trust you slept well?"

She turned towards Shigure and smiled nodding. "Yes, I hope you did to."

"Well you know the life of a writer; sleep is just a dream waiting to be dreamt."

"That…doesn't make any sense." Etsuko noticed the pill bottle in his hand and sighed a bit. "I see you're following Hatori's orders."

Shigure had completely forgotten the initial reason he came upstairs. "Well you know Hatori, if I don't do as he says he'll scold me…and he is a bit terrifying when he's angry."

"Since when do you follow any kind of orders?" Etsuko smiled as she gladly took the pill from Shigures hand.

"You know Etsi-chan; you look beautiful when you smile."

Cocking her head to the side a bit confused Etsuko stared blankly at him. "Etsi…Chan? What is that?"

"Well I just gave you a nick name, like Hatori is Hari, and Ayame is Aya…you're Etsi."

Still a bit puzzled Etsuko brushed it off and smiled again after taking her pill. "I see, well I'm so glad you feel the need to give me a nick name…it's cute."

Shigure nodded and closed the bottle; just before he walked out of the room he stopped and looked back at her. "Really Etsuko, when you're happy like this it makes you appear more lively." He slid the door closed and made his way back downstairs.

As he left her alone Etsuko's smile feel, she brought her knees up against her chest and she stared at her toes. "Does it…when I smile does it really make me look beautiful, or more lively…because Shigure I always feel dead inside when I take those pills…"

It wasn't long before Hatori came by the house. He waited downstairs for Etsuko and tried his best to ignore the whining Shigure tugging at his sleeve. "Oh Hari, why can't I come to? I'll be good I promise."

"I don't need to be babysitting two children today, you'll stay home." Between Akitos out raged tantrums and the entire estate contracting a cold, Hatori was in no mood to deal with his cousins antics.

Etsuko finally made her way downstairs and without any greetings being exchanged Hatori walked out the door. "He's not in a very good mood is he? Well bye Shigure, please be good!" She waved goodbye before sliding the door shut behind her.

As she entered the back of the car she froze before getting in. just across from her was Akito sitting and looking out the window not acknowledging her at all. She felt like running, slamming the door of the car and running far away.

He turned his head staring into her eyes, and a malicious grin creeping on to his face. "It's been a while hasn't. Come sit, we mustn't keep the school waiting."

As she got into the car Etsuko shut the door and sat as far away from her brother as possible. Just his presence made her body quiver.

He patted the seat next to him, the grin never fading for a moment. "Now, now don't be frightened Etsuko, I'm not angry with you. Please sit closer to me, I just want to talk."

She knew better than to believe him, but there was nothing she could do but oblige with his request. As she moved closer to him she could feel his hand rest on top of her head.

"See now is that so bad?" Akito began to play with strands of her hair. "You know I've missed you so much. The house is lonely without you."

Etsuko didn't say a word which only gave Akito a reason to get angry. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back so her eyes would be forced to look into his. "Did you hear me? I said I missed you, how dare you run away from me like that, after all I've done for you." His grip only got tighter as his voice became louder.

"That's enough Akito." Hatori intervened before anything too serious happened.

Glaring at Hatori and then back at his sister Akito scoffed and pushed her away from him, causing her body to slam against the car door. "You make me sick, just seeing your face makes me want to vomit."

Etsuko put her hands out in front of her as she fell into the car door, her head hit the window. She stayed hunched over until they reached the school, once Hatori parked the car she swung the door open and got half way out of the car before being yanked back inside.

Akito squeezed her arm tightly. "I will be seeing you tonight, don't make me come find you." He let go and allowed her to leave.

Shutting the car door behind her, she stood there collecting her thoughts. Letting out a sigh Etsuko lifted her head and smiled putting everything that had just happened out of her head. Hatori took a bit longer to get out of the car, probably getting scolded for interfering, but once he came out he began to walk into the school building.

"Thank you for driving me here." Etsuko said surprisingly cheerful.

Hatori stopped walking and turned around. "You're welcome, and I'm sorry for not telling you about Akito being gin the car, he requested to see you and I knew if I had told you, you would've run off."

"I understand, let's forget it and continue with our day." She grabbed onto his arm and continued to walk.

*Flash Back*

"No! I won't allow it!" Akito threw the vase at Hatori, causing his eye to begin bleeding. Kana was terrified by the horrific events that had just taken place. She was in no condition to take care of Hatori; she was in no condition to take care of herself.

Many days went by, Kana had started to blame herself for Hatori's injury, and soon feel into a deep depression. It wasn't long before Hatori made up his mind to erase Kanas memories, it was hard for him but he knew that doing this would help.

Once Kana was gone, only fragments of evidence that she even exited lingered in his office. A knock came from his door and without waiting for an answer it slid open. A younger Etsuko stood in the door way looking at him with saddened eyes.

"I'm sorry." She walked into his office and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry for what brother did to you, I'm very sorry." Tears began to roll down her face as she continued to apologize. "I've never wanted you to fell the unhappiness that I do."

Hatori sat there motionless, taking in the last part of what she said wondering to himself if the sadness in his heart that he's felt for a few months could really exist in a person their entire life.

*End Flash Back*

"Oh Etsuko, Hatori I see you guys made it." Tohru caught up to them from behind. "Oh! H-Hatori…Etsuko…she's…hugging you…how is that possible? I thought she wasn't one of the members, how are you not transforming."

Etsuko looked down and noticed she was still hugging Hatori's arm. She let go and laughed. "I didn't mean to freak you out or anything Tohru, I'm sorry. When I hug the other members of the zodiac they don't transform but we aren't exactly sure why."

"You really shouldn't be hugging his arm Etsuko, people may talk." Yuki chimed in as he walked out of the main office catching only the last part of their conversation.

"Will they really? Oh well then you're right. Hatori's only here because we need to get my classes set up."

Tohru clapped her hands together. "Oh so you're transferring to our school, I'm so glad to hear that."

"I'm going ahead and getting everything set up now, wait here." Hatori disappeared into the main office.

"I'm really sorry to leave you standing out here by yourself but Miss. Honda and I have to get to class now, I hope you'll join us for lunch later."

Etsuko nodded as she waved good-bye, thinking it would be a good idea to explore the school on her own while waiting she spun around and began her adventure. Not even a foot past the door to the main office Etsuko had ran into someone causing papers to fly up in the air and the two of them falling to the ground.

"Opps, I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going." Etsuko got on her hands and knees trying to pick up as many of the scattered papers.

"No, I'm sorry, I should have been aware of my surroundings." A boy with brown hair apologized while picking up his papers.

They both looked at one another and began laughing at the situation. Once they had picked up the paper, they both stood up, only to fall back down in agony, Etsuko holding the back of her head and the boy holding his hand over his nose, both dropping the papers back on to the ground.

Rubbing her head to soothe the pain Etsuko picked the papers up again and slowly stood up, looking down at the boy, who was still holding his nose. Only this time droplets of blood dripped onto the floor.

Her eyes zoned in on the blood and cause Etsuko to completely panic. "Oh no! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean for you to bleed…no what I meant was I didn't mean to hit you, it was an accident I swear." She waved her arms in the air as she frantically apologized.

He shook his head as he wiped the blood from his nose and stood up. "Please calm down, I'm fine. It's just a little bit of blood. I just came over here to welcome you; I'm Minoru Tamotsu, class representative of class 1-D."

Looking at him Etsuko smiled, she couldn't explain why but something about this boy, Minoru Tamotsu, made her feel happy inside. "It's very nice to meet you I'm Etsuko Sohma."

"Sohma? Oh does that mean you're related to all of the other Sohmas here?"

Etsuko nodded. Her head turned towards the door as it opened and Hatori stepped out.

"Oh is this your father?" Minoru bowed politely. "It's very nice to meet you sir."

"No, Hatori isn't my father, he's just another cousin, except older. He just came here to get my schedule." Etsuko laughed, finding it hilarious that people could think Hatori was her father.

Worried that he had insulted her Minoru shook his head and stood up, laughing a bit. "I'm really sorry to cut this short but I've got to go to a student council meeting. It was very nice to meet you and I hope I see you around later." He quickly recovered his papers and walked off.

"Just another cousin?" Hatori sounded a bit depressed as he repeated what she said.

"No, what I mean to say was you're….uh…a cousin. Hatori why are you being so mean all of a sudden?"

He placed his hand on her forehead, brushing her bag out of the way. "I'll be by the house again to check up on that bruise."

Lifting her hand to and grabbing on to his gently she pulled it away. "It's just a bruise, no need to make a big deal about it. You should go home and take a nap…you need it."

"I'm fine; I'll be back later any way to give Kyo and Yuki their flu shots. As for Akito's invitation, disregard it, I'll tell him you're too sick to come today. Here's your uniform, go change and stay focused on your studies understand?"

Nodding her head she took her freshly pressed uniform and walked off to the nearest bathroom. As Hatori made his way back to the car, ignoring all the stares he was getting from the girls, he wondered about the boy Etsuko had been talking to. Something was not quite right about him, he would have to keep an eye on him for now.

He got into the car and drove off. "Etsuko isn't well enough to come home Akito."

"Whatever, I don't want to see her face anyway. Just take me back home I'm feeling ill."

*After school, at Shigures house*

"Oh goodie you're all back." Shigure greeted them at the door. "This house is so boring without you four, oh and how was your first day of school Etsuko? Learn anything fun?"

"Not really."

"Oh? Didn't meet any cute boys or make any cute high school girl friends?"

Kyo hit Shigure over the head. "Stop being such a pervert!"

Shigure sobbed as he moved away from Kyo. As usual Tohru tried to keep the peace and changed to subject. Fed up, Kyo stomped up to his room and vowed to stay there until dinner was ready.

"I'm a bit tired; I think I'm going to lay down Miss. Honda." Yuki yawned before heading to his own room.

Tohru made her way into the kitchen to being cooking dinner for everyone. Etsuko followed her in and watched her move around. "Oh I'm sorry, I should have asked before I started, did you want to help with dinner tonight?"

"I'm alright, I like watching if that alright." Etsuko smiled as Tohru nodded and continued with the dinner preparations.

"You know what Tohru, I did learn something today in class…well I guess it's not learning, it's more of a activity we did."

Tohru stopped what she was doing and looked at Etsuko. "Really, what was it?"

"It was the strangest thing I've ever done; my teacher had an exercise for all of us to do. We were all given partners, people we normally wouldn't talk to, and we had to fall backward, relying on another student to catch us. Most of us were uncomfortable with this, and we couldn't let go for more than a few inches before stopping ourselves. We laugh in embarrassment.

But then, one student, a thin, quiet, dark-haired, girl crossed her arms over her chest, closed her eyes, and leaned back. For a moment, I was sure she was going to thump on the floor. At the last instant, her assigned partner grabbed her shoulders and yanked her up harshly.

Several students yelled in amazement and some even clapped. Our teacher finally smiled. "You see", he said. "You closed your eyes that is the difference. Sometimes you can't believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too – even when you're in the dark, even when you're falling".

Tohru listened intently to the story, finding the point very touching.

"Tohru the noodles are burning…" Etsuko pointed towards the stove with smoke coming out from it.

As she freaked out and placed the burning pan in the sink, turning the water on to cool it off, Etsuko snuck away from the kitchen and headed up to Tohru's room. She didn't know why she shared that story with her; there wasn't really a point to it.

…but if complete strangers can hold so much trust for others, why can't I…


	4. Broken Dreams

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Akito screamed he threw the closet object at Etsuko, missing her face by only a few inches. "How dare you just get up and leave, then expect me to take you back!"

It took every fiber of her being for Etsuko to come back to the main house, after living on her own she knew that just like the members of the zodiac, she too was bonded to him forever. "Please…"

"I can't hear you when you mumble, speak up." He sneered and threw another object towards her, still missing her face by inches.

Clenching the hem of her dress, in attempt to keep her hands from trembling out of control, Etsuko cleared her throat. "P-please…take me back."

Watching the very same girl that had gotten their parents love and attention, tremble in fear, made Akito smile. He couldn't stand her, living most of her life care-free, unaware the dark shadows that followed the Sohma. "If you want me to take you back sister, there will be a few rules you'll follow."

He got up from the window sill and moved behind the table in the middle of the floor. "Rule one; you will not leave the main house ever again." He watched for any reaction, when he got none he continued. "Rule two; until further notice you're schooling will be done in this house, and if see you succeed then and only then will I allow you to attend an all-girls school." There was still no reaction. "And the last rule; you'll take these." He placed an orange little bottle with a white cap on the table. "I'm tired of seeing you so sad, it's disgusting, you will take these every day."

Looking up from the ground to see what he had placed on the table, she showed some puzzlement. "What…are those?"

He picked the bottle up and examined the label. "These are you're happy pills my dear, they'll take the sad, lonely you and replace her with a more…fun you. The fun, happy, lively little girl mother and father once had, it's really a shame you made them leave isn't it?"

Their parents didn't physically leave, they were still part of the Sohma family, but because how unruly Akito was, caused them too much stress and regret that they had ever raised a child like that. The inevitable happened, they asked for their memories of both their children to be erased, leaving a small five year old girl alone with the monster they had created.

"Y-yes, it is a shame." Even though years have passed and her own memories of her parents disappeared, she still longed for someone, anyone to pay attention, and take her out of the cold, dark world she was consumed in.

As she stood up to leave, Etsuko suddenly felt her body flying backwards into the wall behind her, breaking the mirror hanging, shards embedding themselves in her back. Her eyes widened as Akito pushed her harder into the wall.

He tucked her long strand of hair behind her ear and brought his mouth up to it. "Remember this pain, this is the kind of pain you will always feel, never ending and never changing, even with those damn pills you will never be normal."

The doors busted open just in time, Hatori heard the commotion going on inside and before thing got too out of hand, he intervened. Akito looked at him as he let his sister slump the floor, her back coated in crimson red blood.

"Take her; I can't stand to look at her repulsive face." Akito slowly walked away from her and sat outside watching the sky pass by, acting as if nothing had happened.

Hatori helped Etsuko up, throwing one hand over his shoulder, and holding on to her waist, she managed to walk out. They made it to a room, with a bed in the corner and a small closet of clothes.

As he sat her on the bed, he sat next to her. "Take your shirt off."

She shook her head, even though they were cousins, and he was a doctor, she couldn't bear the embarrassment of being half naked in front of him, plus she wasn't able to lift her arms up without the pain returning.

He was in no mood to play around with such serious injuries. He picked up the briefcase that sat at the floor of the bed and took out a pair of scissors. "I hope you aren't too attached to this shirt." He cut the spaghetti straps of the black shirt and began to slowly peel it off her, being careful of the glass still interested in her back.

She brought her arms up to her chest, only to be gently pushed faced down on the bed, her back exposed to Hatori. Neither of them talked, Hatori took out a pair of tweezers and began to pick the glass from her back, as Etsuko held on to her pillow and covered her face.

It was an extensive processes, picking the glass out took about two hours, and applying the alcohol and bandages took another hour. Once he was done he placed his equipment back into the briefcase and continued to sit on her bed with her until he was sure she had fallen asleep.

He left her room, closing the door behind him and made his way back to Akito. As he walked in, Akito still sat outside, looking at the birds flying by.

"Were you able to get all the glass out Hatori?"

"Yes" Hatori looked over at the shattered mirror as he answered. "But she'll be staying with me until her back has healed."

"Don't tell me that you care for that bitch?"

Hatori couldn't tell him the truth. "Of course not, as a doctor I'm obligated to make sure the Sohmas are all healthy and your sister isn't. She need to be watched to make sure her injuries don't become infected that all."

The truth was, Hatori had feelings for Etsuko, not romantic feelings but it was the kind of feeling he just couldn't explain. He tried to ignore it, but as she slowly began to convert into a deep depression that feeling couldn't be held in any longer.

"Fine, but once she's healed I want her back in this house understand?"

Hatori agreed and when he was ordered to leave he made his way back to Etsukos room and stayed there doing paperwork as he waited for her to wake up, and then they would leave to go back to his place.

One month had passed by quickly. In that one month Etsukos back healed up only leaving scars, and Hatori had found a love interest. Etsuko and Kana got along with each other very well, and in a sick twisted way it was almost as if they had become a family.

"Where's Kana today?" Etsuko walked in to the house, holding a bag full of groceries.

Hatori walked up and took the bag from her hand and walked towards the kitchen. "She asked to go out, some girls' night; she asked if you wanted to go. I think they're downtown still if you want to join."

Taking things out of the bag and placing them in their correct cupboards and shelves Etsuko laughed. "That was nice of her, but then who would make your dinner, you kind of suck at it."

"Don't discredit me; I can make a few things, in the microwave." Hatori smiled as he stared at Etsuko putting things away, he knew that the laughter she emitted was a forced laughter. That tiny pill had taken the broken Etsuko and taped her back together, but she didn't need tape, she needed something stronger, something that would be able to make the cracks less viable. What she needed was glue.

"Are you okay?"

When he snapped out of his thought he came face to face with Etsuko, looking up at him worried. "Oh, I'm fine just thinking. Now what were you going to make for dinner?"

"hmm, how about ramen?"

"Do we have the ingredient?"

"uh….no." Etsuko said depressingly.

Hatori laughed, it was a small laugh but it was rare to see him express such happiness. "How about we eat some miso soup? Its perfect weather for it."

Etsuko agreed enthusiastically and began the preparations as Hatori retired into his work room and waited for dinner.

Knocking on his door, she creaked it open and popped her head inside. "Um dinner is ready…" She noticed Hatori resting his head on the table, a book underneath him. Grabbing a blanket from a nearby room she came back and walked up to him, covering him up. "Never mind, you just sleep tonight, we can have miso soup tomorrow." She kissed him on the cheek and walked out.

Pouring a bowl of soup for herself, Etsuko kneeled at the table and ate alone. Wondering how long their happiness would last, how many more days of walks in the park, eating dinner together and just enjoying their company will there be? The sheer thought of it caused tears to run down her face, knowing that Love can sometimes be magic, but magic can sometimes... just be an illusion.

In time the magic she felt had turned into an illusion and that soon turned into a nightmare. Akito hurting Hatori's eye and Kana blaming herself was only the beginning. When Hatori had to erase all the memories from Kana that was when Etsuko knew she would never see him truly smile. She would have stayed with him but Akito had to make sure everyone was just as unhappy as he was so he ordered to the return of his sister.

Even though they didn't live with each other, Etsuko came by Hatori's house every day and took care of him as much as she could. Changing bandages and cooking meals for him was all she could do, she couldn't change what had happen but she was determined to stay by his side just as he did with her.

*End flash back*

Etsuko woke up suddenly; staring at the ceiling in the dark, tears had rolled down her eyes.

"Are you okay Etsuko?" Tohru whispered.

There was nothing but silence for a while. Then she sighed and rolled over on to her side. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Feeling a bit of hostility from her, Tohru left it at that, wishing to herself that someday she could understand Etsuko better and that they could become friends, but for now all she could do was say okay. "well please sleep well Etsuko, I don't want you to be tired for our endurance run."

She didn't respond, she simply looked at the shadowy figures.

Sometimes when I say "Oh don't worry, I'm fine…" I just want someone, once, to look me in the eyes and just say "tell the truth." Someday…I'll let someone see the real me.


	5. Remorse

One month had gone by pretty quickly; the leaves on the trees had all changed colors, some crimson red, golden yellow or a nice russet brown. October was nearing its end and Halloween was just a day away, the entire school wanted to do something for that particular day and with many hours of painstaking student council meetings they had come up with something fun.

"So I don't understand Yuki, what did the student council come up with?" Tohru asked innocently.

"Well Miss. Honda, we decided to throw a Halloween festival. We're going to have a haunted house, pumpkin carving contest, a hay ride, costume contest and other things."

"That's kind of western isn't?" Etsuko chimed in.

"Well yes I suppose it is, but that's kind of the point. The student council thought it would be more fun to celebrate Halloween like the westerners do, plus we were able to persuade the teachers it was educational to."

"Oh that sounds like so much fun; I never carved a pumpkin before." Tohru clapped her hands together and her face suddenly turned into one of her determined looks. "But I'll try my best!"

Kyo scoffed at Tohru determination. "Knowing you, you'd probably cut your fingers off."

"Yea…oh but I'll try very hard not to, I promise."

As the four of them continued their walk to school, Etsuko thought of an extremely important aspect that they had all overlooked.

"What about the costumes, Yuki you're the student council president so you have to, and it wouldn't be fun if the rest of us didn't join, but what are we all going to be."

Yuki thought for a while but came up with nothing.

"Don't ask me because I'm not dressing up." Kyo yelled as he broke the silence.

"No one was asking you, stupid."

Kyo could feel his face turn red. "Every time you open that damn mouth of yours nothing but crap comes out, and how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me stupid?"

"If you stop being stupid I wouldn't have to call you stupid." Yuki calmly explained, although there was a hint of anger in his voice.

Tohru looked back and forth from Kyo to Yuki, worrying that they would end up fighting like usual. "I know zodiac animals!"

The sheer randomness of Tohru's outburst caused everyone to stop walking and look at her confused.

"Uh…what I meant was, everyone could dress up as a Zodiac animal….huh, and Yuki could be a mouse…a-and Kyo you could be…" She trailed off realizing the idea was thought very well.

"That sounds like a good Idea Miss. Honda, but I think we could come up more creative don't you think?"

Tohru nodded, as she tried to think up of another idea.

Etsuko snapped her fingers as an idea popped into her head. "Hey, doesn't Aya still have that really weird shop? Hatori took me to it once, but didn't let me go in…he said something about not being for children…or something."

Yuki sighed, hanging his head in shame. "That is truly an understatement."

"We should ask Hatsuharu and Momiji if they want to join us." Tohru added just before they reached the school.

Etsuko nodded in agreement. "I'll go ask them in class, I'll see you guys' later okay?" She waved goodbye and went down the first year's hall while the others went to the second year hall.

As she walked towards her class she popped her head in to see if her cousins had arrived. Sure enough the two of them were sitting at their desks surrounded by their classmates, and ever some upperclassmen, just drooling over them. She decided to make the journey to their desk, shoving people out of her way, accidently stepping on toes.

"Excuse me…sorry…please move." She finally reached her destination, out of breath she hunched over Haru's desk, trying to catch her breath. "Y-you.…coming with me…to…Aya's place…and Momiji also."

Hatsuharu didn't understand her choppy sentence. "What?"

Letting out a large sigh Etsuko stood up, obvious she had regained her composure. "I said you and Momiji are joining Kyo, Yuki, Tohru and I at Ayame's place for Halloween costumes."

"What are you doing here?"

"Didn't you just hear me, I said-"

Haru cut her off before she was able to repeat herself. "I know what you said, I meant, what are you doing in class? You haven't been here for a few days, we thought you were sick."

"I was, and now I feel better…so I'll see you and Momiji after school." With that she turned around and began to fight through the crowd again.

"Wait Etsuko where are you going?" A childlike voice asked worrisome.

It was too late; she had been engulfed by the sea of people, and most likely didn't hear Momiji. It was true though, class was about to start and Etsuko was certainly leaving.

The past couple of days bored Etsuko out of her mind, she had already knew the things her class was talking about, and sitting inside on such a beautiful day was a waste, so for those days she wasn't in class she was sitting outside by a large golden leaf tree reading.

Today wasn't any different, she snuck out of the building, hid behind objects avoiding any teacher or student council member that walked her way, and eventually ended up by her tree. Sitting underneath it, grabbing a black covered book she opened and bean to read.

As she sat underneath her tree, reading her book, a shadow loomed over her, blocking her from the sun. As she looked up to see who it was, her eyes widened. It couldn't be could it? The boy from a month ago was standing in front of her.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked but sat down without waiting for her reply. "What book are you reading?"

"It's called The Road, It is a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed much of civilization and, in the intervening years, almost all life on earth." Etsuko said bluntly as she showed him the black cover with red words written on it.

He didn't know how to react to the description to the book, but not wanting to be rude Minoru nodded politely. "That Sounds…interesting. You know I really should turn you in for skipping."

"Yea, but you're skipping too, and you aren't really on the student council are you?" Etsuko shut her book and put it back in her bag.

Minoru suddenly began to laugh. "You've caught me! I'm not on the student council and I am skipping but I was just messing with you Sohma."

Out of pure nervousness Etsuko joined in with his laughter. "Oh…"

"In seriousness, I came by to ask you something." He grabbed her hands and brought them up to his chest, pulling her closer to him. His face had a sense of serenity to it.

Her entire body was trembling, not from admiration, but from utter fear. A boy she hardly knew was giving her a look of lust.

'This is what Shigure must have meant when he warned me about the boys.' Etsuko thought to herself, she could feel her face turning red, her palms getting sweaty and her heart beating faster with every passing second.

Minoru continued to hold on to her hands. "I was wondering if you would like to…" he paused for some dramatic effect, his brown hair blowing in the mysteriously sudden wind. "…if you would like to…skip school with me."

The atmosphere around the two changed completely. Etsuko was left on the edge of confusion and cardiac arrest.

'He…he wanted to skip….why go to all that trouble just to ask if I wanted to skip school with him?'

"I'll take your silence as a yes." He stood up, now only holding onto one of her hands.

Still dizzy about the entire situation, Etsuko didn't protest much and soon she found herself running behind him.

Stopping in front of the schools gate Minoru pulled out a key grinning while he unlocked it and slithered his way out to the other side, pulling Etsuko along every minute.

Finally she had come back to reality and stopped walking, causing Minoru to look back surprised. "I don't think we should be doing this…what if we get caught."

"Don't worry; it's going to be fine. Now I'm starving let's getting a quick bite to eat, oh I know lets go get some costumes for the festival…no we should -" He stopped himself, realizing he was making decisions on his own. "I'm sorry Sohma, what do you want to do."

"Uh…I guess…we could get something to eat."

With that Minoru took off in a sprint, Etsuko sailing along behind him. They stopped at a street vender who was selling fresh Yaki soba. He ordered one plate of the fried noodles and both sat down at a nearby bench.

They ate their snack in silence, and once they had finished Minoru threw the plate away and rubbed his belly. "That was delicious, now onward to find Halloween costumes. I know this really cool shop, I pass by it every day from school but I've never been in it and I really want to."

Etsuko smiled as she followed him once again. "so this shop…sells costumes?"

He put his finger up to his chin, and thought for a moment. "I don't really know. I've seen costumes in the window…although they didn't look like something for Halloween…I guess we'll find out."

It wasn't long until they reached the place. As Etsuko looked up at the shops name, Trust comes first; Ayame; value from the heart, her face had turned ghost white. "T-this is the shop…you were talking about?"

Minoru looked over at Etsuko. "So you've heard of it? Great let's go in then!" He grabbed her hand and walked through the doors. He looked around, disappointment filling his heart. "Man, this is a buzz kill, I thought it would be cooler than this…it just looks like a lame craft store, never mind lets go."

"Okay, yea we should go now." Etsuko spun around making her way back outside, but as she placed her hand on the door knob a voice came from the back causing Minoru to stop walking.

"How dare you call my little shop a mere craft store! You should be sentenced to one thousand lives in hell for such a comment."

'I'm too late, it's all over…' Etsuko hung her head.

Coming out from the back, a tall, long grey hair man came out wearing an extravagant yellow ballroom dress.

Minoru just looked at the strange man yelling at him, he wasn't sure how to react to a man in a dress.

"This shop is for fantasies, and dreams to come true, I spend night and day making my customers dreams come true. And to have you-" He stopped his rant, pushing Minoru out of the way he looked down at Etsuko.

'Oh no…he saw me, oh please Ayame don't say anything stupid.'

"Etsuko what are you doing here?" He looked at her and then at the boy he had brushed aside. His golden eyes filled with excitement. "Oh don't tell me…you two are on a date, yes that must be it! Your face says it all Etsi-chan. I'm simply honored that you choose my place to pronounce your love to him."

The expression on her face was utter dismay, she couldn't believe that Ayame would just go off and assume such things, well she could but being the victim was much worse than being a bystander.

Ayame wrapped his arms around her shoulders; his attitude went from excitement to dismay. "Oh but what of Tori-San…he will surely be saddened…maybe I should give him a call!"

Reaching for his cell phone, Etsuko knocked it out of his hands, glaring at him. "Don't even think about it."

Minoru watched the two of them argue about calling some Hatori guy. He looked at the man in the dress a bit longer, and suddenly it came to him. "Hey, you must be Yuki's brother…yea now that I think of it he kind of looks like you."

Ayame's eyes lit up from the sound of his brother being mentioned. He looked over at Minoru and drew closer to him. "Do you really think that? My dear brother is truly starting to look more like me. That must mean he admires me so much he would go to such great lengths to imitate me look."

Minoru stepped back intimated by Ayame's personality, he then felt his hand being held on to. Looking down he noticed Etsuko had grabbed on to his hand and gently pulled him away from Ayame's path.

"Anyway, Aya it was nice seeing you but I think we're leaving now." Etsuko smiled as she towards the door.

"Wait, Etsuko what about our costume?" Minoru whispered

Letting out a sigh she stopped and turned around. "Ayame, would you mind making the two of us some costumes for our school festival?"

"Why of course, I'd do anything for young love, what would you like, a maids outfit for you and a stunning tuxedo for your boyfriend, or perhaps you would like something a bit more daring…possibly something more seductive?"

Etsuko could feel her face turn red again. "No, nothing along those lines…just…make mine a pirate and…Minoru can be pirate to."

"I wouldn't go with that, but it is your decision after all. Very well as soon as Mine comes back from her errand we'll get started. Would you two like to stay a while?"

"No, we have other things to do, in fact don't worry about giving us the finished product Yuki and the others are coming by later…so you can give them ours and we'll get them later." Etsuko pulled Minoru out of the store with her. Using her other hand to rubbed her temples, exhausted from what had just taken place.

Minoru looked down at his hand, a strange feeling going through his body when he saw his hand intertwined with hers.

"I'm sorry"

He looked up at Etsuko and smiled. "What are you sorry about?"

"For Ayame, he seems a bit weird but he really is a nice guy, I should have told you about him before we went into the shop."

"It's not a big deal, so he's a bit eccentric but that what makes him really cool to be around. Since he said Yuki was his brother that must mean he's…your cousin?"

She nodded; they continued to walk down the street going in no particular direction.

"Wow, you must have lots of cousins. Let's see, there's Yuki, Kyo, Momiji, Hatsuharu, uh that Hatori guy and now this Ayame."

"Trust me, there are many more."

He suddenly began to laugh. "Sometimes I wish I had a big family, but it's only me and my mother."

Etsuko looked up at him. "What about your father?"

"My dad has never been in the picture." He let out a small snicker. "As my mom puts it, 'he knocked me up and got his ass out of there.'"

Etsuko decided to leave it at that. They walked around some more before the sun began to set, and both of them thought it was a good time to part ways for the day.

"I'm glad you decided to skip with me, I had lots of fun." Minoru smiled.

"Me to."

"I guess Ayame was right, it was a date after all, well see ya tomorrow at the festival, oh and don't forget my costume." He ran off and slowly disappeared down the street.

She looked waved goodbye hesitantly; wondering to herself if today really was a date. They held hands for most of the day, and he did buy lunch.

'Oh god, what is Aya was right…no it wasn't a date Minoru was just kidding, right?'

As Etsuko got home she was greeted by Shigure holding a package out to her. "Aya dropped it off not too long ago."

She opened the box and just as she expected, it was the costumes he made. Pulling hers out, her face turned ghost white for the second time that day. "Is…he…serious?"

Shigure looked at the mid-thigh length dress, a white blouse, with an extremely low neck line, a black corset for the torso and ending with ruffles along the hem of the dress. "Well that does look like Aya's work."

Dropping the dress back in the box Etsuko stood. "I'm heading to bed." She walked up the stairs and into her room. Tomorrow would certainly turn out to be interesting.


	6. Premonitions

It was another nice autumn day outside. The school had been transformed into an array of actives for the students to do. People dressed up in typical costumes, zombies, vampires, and so forth. The Sohma, Tohru and even Minoru stood in the middle of all the chaos not sure what to start with.

"Oh Tohru and I are going on a hay ride, so we can sit real close and stay warm." Momiji began to pull on her arm before he got hit over the head by Kyo's fist.

"Stupid don't you go and make decisions for without asking."

Tears weld up in Momiji eyes as he held his head. "Ow! Kyo that hurt!"

"Yea, keep it up and it'll hurt even more you little brat!"

"Hey where did Yuki get to? Wasn't he just here a few minutes ago?" Etsuko asked as she looked around for him.

Tohru looked next to her, where Yuki had been standing, but not anymore. "Oh you're right! I think he had to go to a student council thing."

"Just like that damn rat, leaving without telling anyone." Kyo crossed his arms over his chest.

"He'll be back soon, anyway let's get started on the actives I saw we do the haunted house."

"No, Tohru gets scared, 'member last time?" Momiji reminded them of the incident, when they got kicked out because they had broken things.

Tohru felt bad for not being able to handle scary places, she really didn't want everyone to not have fun because of her. "N-no it's okay, I can handle it."

"There no way in hell we're going through that again. I say we just go on the stupid hay ride." Kyo then took off towards the attraction. Haru, Momiji and Tohru all followed leaving Minoru and Etsuko still standing there.

"Don't you want to go with them?" Minoru placed a hand on his hip.

Etsuko pulled the jacket she had on tighter. "Not really, I don't like hay rides, but if you wanna go I'll join you."

He smiled and shook his head. "No, I don't like hay rides either, something about them just makes my skin tingle."

Etsuko didn't push the subject any further; she looked him up and down and had to admit that he looked really cute in his costume.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing I was just thinking that Ayame did a pretty good job on your costume." Etsuko blushed slightly as she looked at the ground.

He looked down at what he was wearing, thin black pants that had gone down to his knees, an oversized red belt, and a white ruffled top. He didn't think it was as amazing as Etsuko thought. He moved closer to her, grabbing a hold of the zipper from her jacket and gently pulling it down, exposing the rest of her costume. "My costume is alright, but I think he did an amazing job on yours, you shouldn't be disgracing his work by wearing this jacket over it."

The blush on Etsukos' face had covered her entire face and had changed a few shades brighter. "No, it's really cold out…I n-need it on." She zipped it up again and rubbed her hands over arms pretending to shiver.

He liked to make her all flustered; he found it a bit cute. "Well then what do you want to do? Oh I know lets go make a scarecrow together."

The two of them headed towards the east side of the school where the scarecrow making area was taking place. They both picked a bale of hay, a hat, a pillow case, pants and a shirt. Going off to a clear spot they began to construct their scarecrow, first by tying the ends of the pant legs closed so the hay wouldn't fall out.

Etsuko held the pants open for Minoru to shove hay in until the jeans grew fat. Taking the shirt he connected the shirt and the pants together by tying them together, making a waist. Then they both began to stuff the shirt, making it just as fat as the pants.

Minoru wiped the sweat from his forehead; he didn't realize how labor intensive making a scarecrow truly was. "Alright…now for the head."

Etsuko held the pillowcase open for him, watching him place hay in it and then tying it up and drawing a face.

He turned the head towards Etsuko showing her the face he made, slanted eyes and an open mouth with sharp teeth inside. "Think this will scare those pesky crows?"

"Oh for sure, why with a face like that I'm even scared." Etsuko laughed along with Minoru.

Placing the head upon the scarecrows shoulder Minoru tied it up and got a pair of scissors to cut off the extra string. As he came closer to the string his hand suddenly began to shake. He wasn't sure why it had suddenly done that, maybe the fear of messing up made him nervous, but it was only string it wasn't like he was doing major surgery. Shutting his eyes he closed the scissors and only opened them when he heard a thud on the ground.

Etsuko watched the head fall from the shoulders to the ground, she wasn't sure what had just happened but the awkwardness of it all caused her to laugh hysterically.

"Ok, so I panicked a little. I can fix this." Minoru said calmly as he picked the head up and examined it.

Etsuko placed her hand over her mouth, trying to control her laughter. "You cut off his head!"

"Details, details." Minoru placed the pillow case back on the shoulders of the scarecrow and found enough fabric to tie it back on. "See, all better."

Wiping the tears from her eyes Etsuko nodded. "I guess, hopefully the crows don't laugh at it too."

"I don't think I've heard you laugh this hard before…it's nice." Minoru stood holding his hand out for Etsuko, while his other hand was wrapped around the scarecrows waits.

Taking his hand she lifted herself off the ground, and brushed the dirt off her clothes. He was right, she hadn't laughed that hard in a very long time, not since Hatori had to erase Kanas memories.

The two of them stood there talking for a while, about their plans for Halloween and neither had anything they were going to do. They heard familiar yelling getting closer.

"What the hell is that?" Hatsuharu asked Kyo while he looked down at his hand.

Kyo didn't have anything in his clenched hand. "It's what's going to keep me from utterly destroying you!"

"Oh so you think you're all big a bad now huh? The crying you did on the hay ride was just a show for your little girl friend?" It was obvious that Haru had turned 'black'.

"What the hell are you talking about? I wasn't crying!"

Minoru was still getting used to all the Sohmas personalities, especially Hatsuharus since seemed to change every so often.

"Etsuko, Haru and Kyo-Kyo are fighting again!" Momiji ran up to her and tugged on her arm.

"Hey I told you to stop calling me Kyo-Kyo!"

Hatsuharu grabbed ahold of Kyo's shirt. "He'll call you whatever the hell he wants you to call you!"

Tohru was begging the two of them not to fight and Momiji began to cry about the situation, causing Etsuko's head to spin.

'I wonder if this is Hatori feels when he's dealing with everyone?'

Noticing Etsukos uneasiness, Minoru took a hold of her hand and snuck her away from the group. "You're cousins are interesting Etsuko, how do you handle all of that chaos?"

The truth of the matter was she didn't normally deal with any of her cousins. As she sat in the main house, she watched them come home from school, or go play outside, but that was the extent of having to 'deal' with them. Occasionally she would run into them whenever she went to Hatori's house but it was only a quick glance, never conversations, and suddenly having to be around the craziness that they brought gave Etsuko a bit of anxiety.

"Hey, I think I'm going to head home. My head hurts a little bit." Etsuko let go of his hand and began to walk off only to feel a hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't hurt your feelings did I, I'm real sorry if I did." Minoru watched her face for a sign of hurt.

She forced a large smile on her face. "No, I'm fine really don't worry so much; I'm just going to go home a lay down."

He could see through that fake smile, she wasn't fooling him, he had seen that smile so many times before. A smile that only masked the true emotions, but there was nothing he could do to stop her, so he let go of her shoulder and watched her leave.

Etsuko was able to sneak off school grounds; and instead of walking towards Shigures house she headed towards the estate. Reaching the gate she looked at the nameplate, reading 'Sohma' and sighed to herself.

'What the hell am I doing back here, why is it every time I can't handle life I come back to the very place I hated to be?'

She heard the door slide open and a brown haired boy looked up at her before opening it all the way. "Oh it's just you, why don't you just walk in are you scared?"

'Perfect Hiro is here…not what I need.'

She walked past him ignoring his smart ass remark.

"I haven't seen you around here for a month; did Shigure finally kick you out?"

He was getting on her nerves, besides one other family member, Hiro was her least favorite always running his mouth like he knew everything. "Not now Hiro, is Hatori home?"

"He's with Akito; you know I don't get it. Why do you always run to Hatori when you have a problem? Don't you think that he's got enough to deal with, or maybe you like when Akito takes up his time to get back at you, hey are you listening, don't walk away from me when I'm telling you something."

She had enough of his talking, all he was just a little spoiled kid who for whatever reason wasn't at school. As she continued to Hatori's house, deciding to wait for him until he was done with Akito, she wondered if what Hiro said was true. Did she really always run to him, she knew that he dealt with a lot of people and of course whatever Akito wanted him to do, but until now she never really thought much about it.

Getting to the front of his house she checked the door, finding it unlocked she let herself in and walked around as she waited for him to get back. Walking into his office she went over to his book shelf and looked at the picture of Kana.

Picking it up, she let out a sigh. "I'll never be able to melt his heart like you did. Ever since you left I've been trying to get him back to his old self, but no matter what I do…his heart is still remains frozen."

She placed the picture back and decided to flip through one of his medical books. Grabbing one by random she plopped herself at his desk and swiveled in his chair before flipping through the pages. It wasn't until she had gotten bored that she decided to go back to Shigure's house, not wanting to bother Hatori than she already did.

By the time she had reached Shigures house it had gotten dark. Tohru whipped up some leftovers and retired to her room when she made sure Etsuko didn't need anything else.

"You're home late." Shigure muttered from behind his newspaper.

"Yea, I decided to just walk around, you know to clear my head." Etsuko picked at her food before she began to scoop some in her mouth.

Shigure didn't answer; he simply sat there continuing with his reading.

"Do you think…I bother Hatori too much?"

The question caught him off guard, putting his paper down he looked at her questionably. "What makes you ask that all of a sudden?"

"Nothing, just a question."

"Well I highly doubt you bother tori, remember he dealt with Aya and I for most of his life, if anyone should bother him it would be me and Aya." Shigure laughed as he thought back to all the trouble Hatori had to get them out of.

After a few minutes of silence there was a knock at the door. "Who could that be at such an hour." Shigure asked as he stood up and answered it.

As the door slid open a drenched looking Minoru stood on the other side. "I-is this the Sohma residence?"

"Well it's one of them, how may I help you?" Shigure disregarded the fact he was soaked.

"I need to speak with Etsuko Sohma, is she home?"

Etsuko walked up from behind Shigure, and looked to see who was at the door, her eyes widening as she recognized the figure. "Minoru…what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry for just coming unannounced but…I need to talk to you."

Shigure left the two teens by themselves; he hid away in the next room so he was able to eavesdrop.

"It's been bothering me all day; I went home I tried everything to get it off my mind but nothing worked. So I snooped around and found out where Yuki lived and came here hoping to find you. " Minoru never took his eyes off the ground.

"What are you talking about? Are you alright?" She went to go feel his forehead but pulled back when he steep further away from her.

"I'm fine, it's you though, you're not fine and it's pissing me off."

Her eyes furrowed, not sure if it was out of anger or confusion. "W-what are you talking about?"

Clenching his fist he took several feet towards her, causing Etsuko to step backwards further into the house. "You…the person standing in front of me right now isn't the real Etsuko."

She could feel her heart sink from the mention of the lack of realness she showed. "Minoru I think…you should go home, you don't know what your-"

He pushed her aside stomping into the kitchen looking for something. When he spotted it sitting on the counter he grabbed it and spun around. "This is what I'm talking about." He showed her the orange bottle in his hand. "This isn't the real you, it isn't the real you I want to know."

'How did he know about those?' Etsuko stood frozen in front of him.

"When you laughed really hard earlier this morning, I realized that I have never seen you that happy before. It was like someone had switched you out with a stunt double, but I don't want to know the stunt double…I want to know you!"

There was a long silence. Etsuko had no words for him, either from shock or anger she couldn't think of anything to tell him.

*Flash Back*

"It's quite disgraceful don't you think?" One woman whispered to another.

"Oh yes, to think the head of the family has to deal with such an unruly sibling."

"So unruly she was put on drugs just so she would be presentable." The two women continued to gossip, unaware that Etsuko was just beyond the slightly cracked open door, listening to every word.

"Even more of a shame knowing that if her brother was to pass, she would take his place as head of the family, and can you just imagine a girl running the family, and not just any girl a mentally unstable one at that." The women laughed.

Their laughter came to an abrupt halt when the door slide open, an angry ten year old girl looking up at the. "Don't laugh at me."

The women continued their laughter, not caring what she had just said.

*End flashback*

"I said stop laughing!" Etsuko yelled as she covered her ears falling to her knees, tears running down her face.

Minoru didn't seem to have an expression on his face. He simply kneeled in front of her and embraced her tightly. "Please Etsuko, let me get to know the girl I saw laughing, I want you to just be yourself."

In the other room Shigure leaned against the wall, wondering to himself if he had made the right choice by letting this boy interfere in his families secrets.

*Flash Back*

Shigure had just gotten off the phone with Etsukos teacher. He put on some shoes and left the house in search for her. On his little journey he ran into a frantic boy, out of curiously Shigure had asked him what was wrong, and the boy indulged his curiosity by telling him.

"I'm looking for a girl with black hair, her last name is Sohma…you wouldn't happen to know her would you?"

Shigure raised an eyebrow. "Since you mentioned it, I do know her. In fact the girl you speak of is my dear cousin."

His eyes lit up with hope. "Do you think, or do you mind telling me where I could find her?"

"Perhaps, but why do you want to know?"

His cheeks turned a light pink shade. "It's just…something to seem a little off and I wanted to make sure she was alright."

Shigure stood looking at the boy. Thoughts on whether or not to let him visit ran through his head. He then let out a big sigh and took out a piece of scrap paper. "Pen."

A flustered Minoru scrambled for a pen in his book bag and handed it to him. He watched Shigure write scribble something down and then was handed the paper and the pen back. Looking down he read what seemed to be an address.

"Come by about nine, and when you come by make sure you don't mention who gave you the address. As to your reason, you'll go into the kitchen on the counter to your right, and next to the sink will be a little orange bottle. Take it, and don't give it back, now keep in mind if you choose to go through with this, there is no guarantee your outcome, or future with the Sohma family. What you may find may be upsetting."

Minoru didn't fully understand what the man in the robe was talking about but he bowed politely and thanked him before he ran off."

*End flashback*

Etsuko pushed Minoru away gently, her gaze still focused on the floor. "You…really want to see me without my medicine?"

"Listen, I don't know exactly what's going on, but if the things in that bottle is hiding the real you from me, then yes…I want to see you without them."

"You won't like it, possibly even hate it."

Minoru took his hand and placed them on either side of her face, bringing her head back to stare at him. "In time we hate that which we often fear, but I could never find you frightening so….therefore I can never hate you, and no matter what may happen, I'll be by your side."

Etsuko and Minoru stayed on the ground for a while longer until had gotten really late. Minoru decided to head home before his mother worried and as he passed the door Shigure was standing he whispered a soft 'thank you.'

As he walked home, Minoru thought just what he had gotten himself into, but with his hand in his pocket fiddling with the bottle of pills he had taken, the thought left his mind only leaving him with contemplations of what the next day may bring.


	7. Revenge

A gust of wind found its way into the Sohmas house, causing Yuki, Tohru and Kyo to shiver. As they all knelt around the kitchen Kyo and Yuki were both staring at Shigure who calmly sipped his tea and tried to ignore the cold stares he was getting.

"Alright spit it out you pervert, why the hell is there a big ass hole where the door used to be?"

Shigure looked up from his cup. "Whatever do you mean Kyo?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? Why the hell is there a damn hole?"

"Oh well, it's quite a funny story, you see Etsuko got up this morning and kicked it down." Shigure said nonchalantly.

The three of them looked at Shigure with more confusion.

*Flash Back*

"Today's the day I'm going to do it!" Etsuko stomped down the stairs causing Shigure to perk his head up from reading his paper.

"What are you going on about?"

Etsuko had an evil grin on her face as she clenched her fists. "I feel great, those damn pills are finally out of the way and now I can go back home and teach that freak a lesson." She wasn't speaking directly to Shigure, more of an oath to herself.

Shigure sighed, she would always get like this and as soon as the side effect wore off she'd be back in a depressive state. "Well, don't be gone too long, Tohru's making dumplings tonight."

"Don't worry…all I need is five minutes with him and then I ring his tiny little neck and watch him slowly breathe his last breath." She let out a cackle and kicked down the entrance to the house and ran off into the woods, leaving Shigure to read his paper once more."

*End Flash Back*

"I don't quite understand Shigure, where did Etsuko go exactly?" Tohru asked while trying to fix the doors screen.

"Oh, well she went back to the main house to try to kill Akito." He chimed.

Both Kyo and Yuki looked back at Shigure in shock.

"K-kill….oh shouldn't we stop her, I mean what if she really does it? She wouldn't should we…oh what should we do." Tohru scrambled to the phone and picked it up hoping to reach the main house.

Shigure gently took the receiver from Tohru and put it back on the phone. "Now, don't you fret Tohru. Etsuko always does stuff like this. It's simply a tiny side effect, if she stops taking those pills then she becomes quite angry, but just for a day or so."

"And who the hell stop giving those to her." Kyo screamed as he clonked Shigure over the head.

Tears ran down his face as he ran behind Yuki.

"Don't use me as a shield." Yuki sighed; it was too early for all this commotion.

"Did you really stop giving her pills Shigure?" Tohru asked worriedly.

Shigure pulled himself together and put on a serious face. "Yes, it was something I had to do."

"Liar, you just wanted some excitement didn't you?" Kyo mumbled under his breath.

"Perhaps in the beginning to stir thing up around here, but when I saw ran into that boy the other day, seeing how worried he was about Etsuko, I thought just maybe he would be able to pull her out of her rut."

"I wonder though, how Etsuko is feeling right now. If she's lonely, scared…I just hope she's safe." I Tohru shut her eyes praying to herself.

*Meanwhile; with Etsuko*

Etsuko stood in front of the entrance to the estate, clenching her fists even tighter. "Oh, why the hell is it so hard for me to just walk in?" Her hand would reach for the door put always pulled away the last second, she then would begin to pace back and forth curing to herself.

Twenty minutes must have gone by before Etsuko stopped pacing back and forth and decided to go in. As she reached for the door, she was surprised when it slid open exposing an entertained Hiro on the other side.

"Are you done yet? What do you think you're doing walking back and forth talking to yourself? Are you stupid or something, oh I know I bet you're just scared aren't you? Well come in already, I didn't open the door to just watch you stand there." He turned his back on her and walked off, knowing all too well she would follow.

Etsuko did exactly as Hiro suspected, she followed him in and slid the door shut behind her. "Listen you punk, I didn't come here to chat, just tell me whether or not by brother is home."

"I don't know I've been inside all day, I'm not his babysitter you know, I don't care where he goes, I-" His little rant was cut short by a thump on the head, causing him to double over holding the back the tears in his eyes.

"I told you I wasn't here to chat, now if you don't mind I'll be leaving." Etsuko walked off heading towards the main house. She was determined to find Akito and end things once and for all.

As she made it the front door of the main house Etsuko barged in, without hesitation this time, catching all the maid and butlers off guard. She placed her hand on one of the maids shoulder and spun her around. "Hey old woman, tell me where my brother is."

"Ma-Madam what are you doing here?" The maid sounded surprised.

"I live here, now tell me where the hell my brother is."

The old woman nodded. "Y-yes, well you see madam he went on an errand but he'll be back shortly."

Etsuko looked at the maid for some time, trying to spot any kind of deception. Deciding that the woman was telling the truth she let go of her and walked towards Akitos room. "That's a damn shame; I guess I'll just wait for him then."

"No, you can't he doesn't allow anyone in there without him being present." The woman's plea was futile as Etsuko continued.

"Bite me, and why don't you send him in as soon as he walked through those door; Kay?" She opened the door to Akitos room and slide them shut behind her, enclosing herself in the darkness.

As she waited for his return Etsuko walked over to the table where Akito always sat behind when speaking to her or any other Sohma. She plopped herself down where her brother normally would be and a grin snuck across her face.

"So this is how it feels huh? Being the one behind the table, seeing exactly what Akito sees…well I've got to admit, being on this side of the table is far better than being stuck on the receiving end." She continued to sit there in the dark until the doors opened, letting light from the hall way creep in.

Akito stared at the girl sitting in his place, he dismissed Hatori ordering him to leave them be. Closing the door behind him Akito seemed to glide over to the table and for the first time took a seat in front of his sister.

"Well it's been a very long time sister."

Etsuko face stayed cold as Akito greeted her with a smile.

"Oh, I know that look…seems like you've been a bad girl and stopped taking your medicine."

Etsuko finally cracked a grin. "I suppose I have been, and I assume you know what I'm doing here?"

The two of them continued to stare at each other, filling the room with tension, and in a blink of an eye the two were reaching across the table, grabbing ahold of each other's throats.

Akitos eyes widened as he tightened his grip on his sister. The two of them stayed in the position for quite some time.

Etsuko could feel her head getting lighter and her vision became more blurry. The grip Akito had on her was much stronger, and the fact that he was only a few inches taller than her made all the difference in the world.

Her knees began to buckle, slamming into the table losing her grip on him. Akito took this opportunity to 'finish' her off. He let go of her neck and kneed her in the stomach, hard enough that she coughed up blood.

"What's wrong? Feeling a little bit down?" The question was followed by Akito grabbing a handful of hair from Etsuko and slamming her head down on the table, causing the table to spilt in two.

Hearing the commotion going on Hatori knew that he had made the right choice to stay close by the door. He slid the door open, watching Akito repeatedly kicking Etsuko's curled up body.

Hatori quickly ran and tackled Akito to the ground, it wasn't hard enough to hurt him just enough to buy some time for Etsuko to pick herself up and leave. As he watched Etsuko stager out, Akito was able to push him off and begin hitting him, although it had little effect since it was more of a tantrum than hate.

Etsuko had found her way out of the main house and into someone's back yard. Luckily for her no one was home and they had a tiny pond where she could wash off her face. The cold water felt refreshing and once she was done getting the blood out of her eyes and mouth she looked at the reflecting in the pond, only to be caught off guard when she saw Kureno standing behind her.

She stood up and spun around facing a sullen looking man. "K-Kureno…"

The brown haired man continued to stare before he spoke. "Etsuko, what are you doing here? I thought you were living with Shigure."

"Yea, well I had to take care of a few things…what the hell do you want"

Word had gotten around fast, so Kureno was aware of the beating Etsuko had just received. "Aren't you tired of this, of fighting with Akito, more importantly causing Hatori and the rest of the zodiac members so much grief?"

The question surprised Etsuko; it wasn't like Kureno to blame anybody for Akito's actions. "What are you talking about?"

"Every time you cause Akito to become angry, he takes most of his anger out on Hatori, or anyone else that just happens to be by. Why do you always come by when you're angry? Do enjoy causing trouble for the rest of us?"

Etsuko could feel the anger inside of her boil. She took a few quick steps towards him, causing Kureno to stumble backwards a bit. Poking his chest Etsuko looked up at him. "You listen to me Kureno; I have spent years in that house. When Yuki exposed the family secret all those years ago who do you think Akito took the rest of his anger out on? Or when Kyo changed into his true form because Kagura wanted to see his bracelet, when Hatori and Kana wanted to get married, at the end of the day who the hell do you think was sitting in his room taking a beating for the stupidity of everyone else?"

She shoved Kureno out of her way as she dashed off and made her way out of the estate. Not looking where she was going Etsuko ran into something quite hard and fell backwards on to the ground. "Watch where you're going!"

"Etsuko?"

The familiar voice caused Etsuko to look up. "Minoru…"

Minoru kneelt down. "Hey Etsuko what are you doing here?"

'It's his fault; all of this is his fault. If he just stayed out of it I wouldn't be here.'

The anger began to build up again. Etsuko raised her hand and slammed her fist against his chest. "This is all your responsibility, if you had just let me take my stupid pills I wouldn't be like this."

Minoru let her hit him a while longer, when the fifth or sixth punch came closer he reached out and grabbed ahold of her wrist and pulled her up to her feet. "Are you finished?"

Etsuko rested her head against his chest and nodded, feeling worn out.

"Good, now let's just forget that today even happened, I know let's just go to the park and swing for a bit." He didn't wait for a reply he just began to walk, holding on to her hand. As they reached the park they both took a seat in a swing and began to swing back and forth slowly.

"Sorry." Etsuko whispered as she kept her gaze at the ground.

Minoru laughed unexpectedly. "Don't be sorry, I know you didn't mean to hit me."

"No, not about that, I'm sorry for saying it was your fault…truth is, it's not it's really my fault. For allowing myself to get like this."

Minoru sighed as he looked straight ahead. "It is my fault, I was the one who stole those pills, but I'm glad…because today I got to see an emotion that I've never seen from you."

'These emotions are exactly why I had to take those pills…without them I would be a raging mad lunatic."

"Oh and Etsuko, I want to let you know that tomorrow I'm going to be taking you to a secret location so come meet me at the park before school." With that Minoru jumped off the swing and waved goodbye as he ran off.

Etsuko sat in the park until the sun had gone half way down. As she heard footsteps get closer she stopped swinging and looked up to see Hatori standing in front of her.

"Oh, its just you. What do you want?"

"I need to take a look at your injuries."

Etsuko continued to stare at Hatori, looking for any sign that Akito had taken the rest of his anger out on him.

"I'm fine, he simply just ordered me to leave and began to trash his room. Now I can examine you here in the park or at Shigures house."

Getting off the swing Etsuko took a step closer to Hatori and embraced him. "Can I…go back to your house? I don't want the others to see me like this and worry."

Hatori stood there coldly until Etsuko let go. "Just for tonight, let's go." He walked away from her and towards the car.

As the two of them drove back to the main house they got in using a back entrance that had missed going by the main house. Etsuko walked into Hatori's house and sat on the bed that had always been there for her since she could remember.

Hatori examined her face, cleaning a few scratches and bandaging them up, and he felt her torso for broken ribs. "I heard that you stopped taking the pills….are you certain that's a wise move?"

Etsuko shrugged. "No, but …"

"That boy, you be careful not to get him too involved I don't want a repeat of last time." Hatori butted in before he took his leave, leaving Etsuko in the spare room.

Etsuko feel back onto the bed and shut her eyes. "No, we certainly don't want another repeat…that would be most heartbreaking."


	8. Lost Memories

There was a nice sense of familiarity when Etsuko was at Hatori's place. The small porch outside, looking out to a small coy pond, reminded her of when Hatori and Kana would lay in the grass and watch the stars. Etsuko's guest bed smelled of sweet autumn days she and Kana would spend laying and giggling. Hatori's house used to be a home with warmth, it used to welcome every visitor but now it was a hiding spot. When things got bad, this is where she and Hatori ran too. The house grew dark and cold, lonely. Tonight, it was no different. After her failed attempt to get revenge on her brother and running off, she was brought back to his house. She walked in and could see the ghosts of happier people, carefree spirts that no longer reside in the dwelling.

"Thank you." Etsuko watched Hatori grab some water from the fridge.

Hatori held a special place in his heart for Etsuko, she was more like a daughter than a cousin. Her wellbeing was what he cared about, even if he didn't show it often. "You take a bath first, you've got school in the morning."

She nodded and headed towards the bathroom. She sat on the hard floor while she watched the hot water pour out of the faucet, slowly filling the room with steam. It was in this moment Etsuko felt content. Once the tub was full, she undressed and slowly lowered herself into the water, the heat cause her body to twitch slightly. She closed her eyes and sank further into the tub, the water now just below her chin.

Meanwhile, Hatori had called Shigure and explained the situation as well as scolded him for giving the mystery boy information on Etsuko. "You know what happened last time. Why would you allow this, we don't know the consequences of the two of them remembering."

Shigure was silent for a moment. This situation called for serious thinking. He did remember the last time Etsuko met Minoru and he remembered why they both of them had to get their memories cleaned. "I stand by the decision I made."

Hatori gripped the receiver a bit tighter. "If it happens again, you will be held responsible for the damage it does." With that he hung up the phone and went to sit on the couch. He stared off into nothingness, recalling the incident with Etsuko.

Eight years ago: Age 8

"Hatori! Kana! Did you hear? I get to go to the park with Yuki." A young Etsuko yelled as she entered Hatori's house without an invitation, which was common.

Kana and Hatori had only started to date, and the term date was used very loosely.

When Etsuko ran in Kana was making breakfast for the two of them, but had some extra just in case they had a third unexpected visitor. "Oh how fun! I love the park."

Hatori walked into the kitchen and let out a small sigh after smelling breakfast. "That's quite a treat, but be careful you know children your age can be reckless. You've got to keep an eye out for your cousin."

"Yes I know." She smiled as she looked at the clock. Letting out a small gasp she ran towards the entrance and slipped on her shoes. "I'm going to be late."

"Oh, but don't you want some breakfast?" Kana knew the answer, so she quickly put some onigiri in a bento box.

"No thanks, I don't have time."

"A-alright, well please take this snack with you." Kana rushed over to Etsuko and stuffed the bento box into her bag. "and have fun."

"Thank you!" she waved good bye and left. There was a car waiting for Yuki and Etsuko, the ride was a bit awkward since they never spoke to one another. They hardly ever saw each other, perhaps only once or twice in passing. Etsuko was one year younger than Yuki.

"You two a very quiet today." Akito broke the silence. The two main people her hurt the most were in the car with him. Whatever his alternative motive was, it was unclear to them. "Are you two excited for your little field trip?"

Yuki was very timid when Akito spoke, more so than normal. Etsuko felt as if she had to protect him, she was afraid of her brother but she wasn't as afraid as Yuki. She nodded "yes, we're very glad you're letting us go."

Akito stared at his sister. "Unfortunately I will not be joining you two, however I expect both of you to behave and not cause our family shame or embarrassment. Think of this as an opportunity to prove you're ready to join the rest of the family in the real world. If you fail, you get to spend more time at the house. If you pass I'll consider letting the reigns go a bit."

They both nodded. It wasn't long car drive, they reached the park and they go out. An older woman stayed with them while the driver took Akito home. While Yuki found his own friends to play with Etsuko sat on the swings alone, something even at a young age she enjoyed the solidarity.

"Hey, you came from that limo right?" A young boy caught Etsuko off guard. Her head bolted up right as she looked at this small brown haired boy, with big brown eyes staring back at her.

"What if I did?" Etsuko continued to swing.

The little boy shrugged and sat in the sand in front of her, far enough not to get hit by her swinging. "You must be really important to have a limo."

It was the first time anyone thought of her as important, it struck her as odd. "I'm not…it's just what my brother likes to be driven in."

His eyes widened. "You have a driver? Wow!"

It never really occurred to her that something so simple as a driver and a limo seemed so out of place. "I…need to find my cousin." She started to slow her swing.

"Oh wait…I…I was wondering if you wanted to play with me. I just moved here and I don't have any friends yet."

No one had ever asked her to play. She sometimes was allowed to wonder the property of the Sohma estate but when the others were out, they mostly ignored her. "You…want to play with me?"

He nodded sheepishly.

"Alright…that sounds fun." She got off her swing and smiled "I'm Etsuko by the way."

"That's a pretty name, I'm Minoru…but you can call me Min."

"I've never been to this park before, let's play explorer. We can pretend that we just arrived on a deserted island and we need to find shelter and food."

Minoru nodded gleefully. "Well, I know of a shelter just pass those trees, I bet that's where the natives live. Come on I'll show you!"

As Minoru was running towards the small wooden area Etsuko looked back at her cousin. He seemed like he was having fun with his new friends.

"Are you coming?!"

She looked at Minoru and smiled. This was her first friend, and she felt so happy. "Yes captain Min!" She ran towards him and they both giggled as the explored the woods.

A few minutes went by before Minoru stuck his arms out, to stop Etsuko from walking any further. "Look, just ahead of us. It's an abandoned house…I bed we could use this as shelter."

The house was small, very traditional and covered in moss and cobwebs. As the two approached and stepped onto the small little porch, it let out an agonizing groan, the wood was stretching and shifting from years of isolation.

"This is a creepy house Min…are you sure it's not haunted."

Minoru helped Etsuko up on the porch and smiled. "Maybe it is…but I find it really peaceful."

"I find it creepy."

"Don't worry, if it is haunted I will protect you." He grinned. There was a loud grumbling sound coming from both their stomachs and they laughed. "I guess we should go find some food."

Etsuko took her bag off and laid it on the ground, she had just remembered the small snack Kana had made for her. "No need, I brought some food with me." She took out the bento box and opened it. She took one of the rice balls and handed it to Minoru.

He took it and bit into it. His eyes watered and he slowly chewed on the rice in his mouth. "This…is…amazing!"

"Kana made it, she's a really good cook."

The two of them talked and laughed and played for a while. They explored the house and etched their names under a table. After sometime they decided to head back to the park. As they got back Etsuko saw the limo waiting and Hatori standing outside, a look a worry on his face. Once his eyes feel on Etsuko the worry turned into slight anger. He walked towards her, in haste, and took her hand. "Where were you?"

"I was just exploring with my new friend Minoru."

Hatori looked at the boy that had been with her. He looked back at Etsuko. "I'm sorry, there was an incident with Yuki, and we need to leave." With that he took her back to the car, not giving her a chance to say good bye.

Once they were in the car, she saw her brother, who had pure disgust on his face. "Who is that boy out there?"

"It's my new friend?"

"Hatori, do the same with him as you did with the others."

Hatori looked in the rearview mirror at Akito. "But he wasn't there when it happened."

"I don't care, do as I say!"

With that Hatori got out of the car and went to catch up with the boy. Etsuko was confused, and it was plastered all over her face.

Akito smiled, enjoying the look of confusion. "Oh yea, since you were unable to do as I asked and watch out for your cousin, he managed to expose our family secret to those little brats. As punishment of course you're friend has to forget this day too."

"What…but…no please…I'm sorry it won't happen again!" She felt instant tears beginning to form. This was her first friend and he was taking him away from her. Akito just sat there, as he ignored her plea. She opened the car door and ran towards Hatori, but by the time she got there the deed was done.

The boy had disappeared and Hatori was on his way back. He looked at Etsuko, now bawling on the ground, and he genuinely felt bad for what he had to do. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not! I hate you Hatori! I hate you!" She stood up, covered in dirt, and ran off.

He thought about going after her, but he had to drive Akito and Yuki back home. Once he was done with that he would search for her. Once the limo got back to the main house, he went back to his place to call Shigure and see if Etsuko had ran to his place. However, once he was inside his home he saw her shoes and a small sigh of relief rushed over him.

Kana came out of the guest room, and she looked at Hatori. "She told me what happened."

"I had no choice, Akito told me."

"I know, and deep down she knows too…but you should go talk to her." She squeezed his hand tenderly before he went in.

Etsuko looked to see who had just entered and when she saw it was Hatori she rolled over to her side and had her back facing him. "I don't want to see you."

"I know, but I want to see you." He sat on the bed and leaned over her. He dealt with the other children crying, over getting hurt or the occasional tantrum and he never felt much for them. But seeing her cry melted that ice heart of his, and knowing he was the reason pained him like nothing else.

"Why did you take my only friend?"

"I had too, I'm sorry really."

She was silent, then she turned around on to her other side, this time facing him. She knew it was his choice, and she knew that she wouldn't have any chances of making friends again. "I'm sorry I said I hated you…I don't"

He nodded.

"Can you do something for me?"

"What's that?"

She looked away, nervous of what his reaction would be. "You erased his memory of ever meeting me right?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"What will he remember…will it be happy thoughts?"

"Yes, it will be an abstract memory, the feeling of happiness and whatever he draws from that will be what his memory is. So maybe a day at a beach…or a present."

"That sounds nice…I want you to do the same to me."

Hatori felt his brows furrow. It was an odd request and something he wasn't comfortable with.

"Please, just the moment we met, I don't want any more sad memories…I want a happy one.'

Hatori rested his hand on top of her head. "You have been dealt a lousy hand Etsuko. Is this something you really want?"

She nodded. "Yes, I will never ask you for anything."

He wanted to refuse her, but he couldn't. He knew that Akito would punish her, and if she had no recollection then there couldn't be anything to punish her for. Without much warning he moved his hand from the top of her head, to over her eyes and instantly erased her memory of every meeting Minoru.

Present day

Hatori was joined by Etsuko on the couch. "Hey, what are you doing sitting in the dark?"

He blinked a few times, coming out of his little trance. "I was remembering something."

"Well, I'm done with my bath if you would like to go."

"Thank you, but I'm going to bed. I suggest you do the same.

She nodded and she quickly gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good night." She smiled and left.

The small kiss caused Hatori to secretly grin to himself. Even though Etsuko wouldn't stay cheerful for long, the emotion was welcomed and a nice reminder to how she used to be before the pills.

The next morning Etsuko woke up early and made a quick breakfast before Hatori woke up. She prepared some rice balls and snuck out of his house and off the estate property before anyone was awake. She was supposed to meet Minoru before class and thought he would enjoy a little morning snack. On her way to school she had actually ran into him, she never knew that he lived that close to the estate.

"Good morning." He greeted her. "I didn't realize our paths would cross. The house from that one night isn't in this direction."

"Oh yea, that's my cousins house. He's the only one who doesn't live in the estate…I usually spend my time there but last night I stayed with another cousin."

"Estate…you mean the big property a few block back. I didn't know you lived there, that's pretty awesome."

"It's alright."

"Anyway, the place I wanted to show you. It's actually in a park…in the woods. I hope that's not creepy or anything. It's actually on our way to school."

"It is creepy, and if it were with anyone but you, I'd run away." She joked.

He was happy to see her in a better mood today. "I promise, you'll love it."

They made their way to the park, unbeknownst to them it was the same park from all those years ago. The passed the swing set and headed into the woods. Once they reached the house, the same from before, she felt a strange sense of déjà vu. The House still looked the same, with the exception on more cobwebs and moss.

The two of them stepped on the porch, it made the same agonizing groan.

"I found this place a year ago. I come here when I feel like the world is just too much." He sat down on the porch and took a deep breath in. "It's like the world stops when I'm here and I can just think."

Etsuko sat down with him and her hand ran over the aged wood. Something about the place was so familiar but she couldn't place it anywhere in her memories. "It's peaceful. Thank you for showing me."

"Of course, Etsuko." He smiled, then his stomach rumbled. "I forgot to eat breakfast this morning." He laughed a bit.

"Oh, I'm glad!" she brought out her bag and took out a bento box. "I actually made us a little breakfast just in case." She handed him a rice ball and watched him take a bite.

"Oh…my…goodness! This is the best rice ball I have ever eaten!" He felt his taste buds dancing in his mouth.

"Really? My…friend taught me a long time ago."

"Wow Etsuko, you're a good cook." He gobbled up the rest of the rice ball and patted his stomach.

Once she was done they both explored the house a bit. They stood in the kitchen, next to the table that had their names written on the bottom proof of their friendship from long ago.

"Hey Etsuko…I have a question."

"Yes?"

"I know we just kind of met but I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me."

"A date…uhm…y-yes. I would love that."

There was a huge grin on Minoru's face. "I'm so glad you said yes!" he took a small pocket knife from his pocket and took out the small knife. He wrote His name on top of the table, almost on the exact spot from before. "Your turn." He handed her the knife.

"I hope this isn't anyone's home." She began to carve her name into the table. Once she was done she gave back the knife. "We really should go to school. If I miss another day I'm going to have to have a student, teacher meeting and I really rather avoid that."

He nodded and took her hand and lead her out of the forest and they walked towards school.


	9. The Meeting

"WHAT?!" Etsuko screamed and stood up from her desk.

"Ms. Sohma, please have some control!" An older male teacher scolded her. She heard her classmates snicker at her expense.

"S-sorry sir." She sunk back into her seat.

The teacher pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat. "Now, as I was saying. Tomorrow starts the parent-teacher conferences. You're parents or guardians have already been informed but just in case they forget their day, the schedule will be posted out on the bulletin board. Please have them arrive promptly."

The class continued as usual after the morning announcement. However, for Etsuko the class seemed to drag on. She wasn't informed about this, she needed to know when she was going to go and also who was going to accompany her. She kept her eyes glued to the clock counting down to the end of class.

As soon as the bell rang she flew out of her seat and ran out the door racing to the bulletin board. "Where am I…A….B…..D….R…..S…Sohma…Thursday at five. " She sighed, slightly relived.

"Why did you run out of class so quickly?" Minoru eventually caught up to her. Since their adventure at the park, they became almost inseparable.

"Well, I didn't know that this was a thing… and I thought maybe I'd have time to impress the teachers before the meeting."

He sighed. "You can't impress them in a few days Etsuko…if you had gone to class and done the work you wouldn't be stressing over this."

"I went to class! Most of the time." She looked down at the ground. "Alright…sixty percent of the time."

"S-Sixty percent?!" His mouth dropped but he quickly recovered. "Geez, you're shit out of luck." He laughed.

Etsuko stared at him as he laughed, she never really heard him curse, but to think of it she never heard him really laugh. " I've got to head home and check something."

"Head home, as in after school right." His tone became a bit sterner.

"Well…more like…right now." She smiled. "If I have time I'll be back."

He sighed, there wasn't a point in trying to stop her, and he didn't want to. "Sure." He bent down a bit and placed a small kiss on her cheek. "see you." With that he walked pass her and headed back to his class.

As Etsuko walked home, all she could think about was the kiss she had received. She had started staying at the estate again. It was only because Minoru lived somewhere close and from time to time she got to walk with him, she'd always walk down a few blocks and wait not wanting any of the Sohmas seeing her. It wasn't too bad living back on the estate. Akito hadn't acknowledged her for weeks now and Hatori seemed a little bit happier. As she came up to the main gate Etsuko sighed, the feeling of despair never changed though. It was a different world behind the gates one that was lonely and frightening but she opened the doors and walked through.

"Ah madam, I wasn't expecting you home so early but glad you are here." The same old maid that had locked her out of the main house now greeted her on the other side of the gate.

Etsuko did not like her, she was Akito's right hand maid, and her tutor at one point. No matter what Akito did, the maid thought he could do no wrong. "Is that so…why are you expecting me old hag."

The maid clenched her fist. "Your brother requests your presence."

Of course Etsuko couldn't reject the request, but it was something she truly didn't want to do. Her hands became clammy and her body tensed. "Sure."

The maid turned around and began walking to the main house knowing Etsuko was following behind. Once to the door of Akito's room she kneeled down and knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. She looked up at Etsuko, who had stayed standing. "Kneel."

Etsuko looked down at the maid and raised an eye brow. "Over your dead body."

"Enter." A soft, yet cold, voice called out.

The maid opened the sliding door and bowed. "Sir, your sister as requested."

"You may leave now." Akito dismissed her. As the door closed behind them Akito watched his sister's reaction. He sat by his table. He raised her hand and motioned her to come closer. "Have a seat dear sister."

Etsuko was still very tense, she wanted to know why she had been asked to come. When he invited her to sit she moved closer against her better judgment. She eventually reached the table and she kneeled down on the dark red cushion. She didn't dare ask what he wanted, she simply just waited until he was ready.

"Do you know why I didn't want you to go to public school?"

Etsuko shook her head.

"It's because they always want something from the parents. In this case they always want something from me. I received a call about parent- teacher- conferences."

When the words left his lips, she could hear them in slow motion. Every sound and syllable drawn out. Her heart began to race, her hands becoming sweaty. However, she tried her best to keep her composure.

"I'm sure you're wondering what that means for you." He smirked and picked up a flower from the table and began to pet the petals. "You'll be happy to hear that Hatori has volunteered to go in my place, since I've been feeling a bit sick lately." He glanced over to her, watching her expressions.

When he said that Hatori would be going she let out a small sigh of relief. "I hope you feel better…"

Akito stated to pluck the flower petals, a white petal gently floating down onto the desk. "I'm so happy you said that sister. It means so much to me." He continued to pluck the petals. "Today I've felt so much better than ever before. So I told Hatori that I will be attending the conference after all."

"W-what?" her eyes shot up to his face, she was confused.

"Don't you want your big brother there at school?"

Etsuko looked away. She didn't want to start a fight with him, things had been decent and she truly wanted it to stay that way. "Yes…"

"Wonderful, then it's settled. I'll be going to school with you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow…our conference isn't until Thursday."

Akito had fished plucking the petals. "I know, but I asked the principle to change it due to my condition and they happily agreed. Now go on and get some rest."

She stood up and bowed. She left the room as calmly as she possibly could, but when the door closed she collapsed to the ground. "This isn't happening." She felt sweat coming off her forehead. "I need to tell the others." She picked herself up and ran out of the estate, towards Shigure's place.

Shiguire was enjoying the silence the afternoon brought. When the others were home he could hardly hear himself think. Currently he was busy reading some girly magazines. When he heard the door slam open.

"Shigure!" Etsuko screamed as she ran through the house. "SHIGURE!"

Shigure closed his book and continued to sit at his table. "I wonder who that could be." He asked himself.

"SHIGURE!"

"In the study."

She opened the door to the study and was panting. "Shigure, I need to tell you something."

"Oh?"

"Parent- teacher-conferences….happening… Shigure." Etsuko said out of breath.

"I'm aware and I'm sorry but it's your own fault for skipping class." He crossed his arms.

She tilted her head to the side. "How…that doesn't matter. Akito is going to the conference himself. I thought I should come warn Yuki and the others."

Shigure had already known of the news. He knew even before Hatori. Akito had asked him to keep the information to himelf, since he wanted the expression on both Etsuko and Hatori to be as genuine as possible. Shigure sighed and he shifted his weight a bit. "I know."

Etsuko was clearly confused. "What do you mean…you know?"

"I know that Akito has decided to attend the meeting."

Etsuko often forgot just how much Akito liked Shigure. He had been her brother's right hand man for longer than she was alive. "Why…didn't you tell me…did you tell Hatori…does he know?"

Shigure heard the hurt in her voice, he sighed and took off his reading glasses. "I'm sorry Etsuko, truly. My hands were tied, I couldn't tell you or Hatori. But I told the others and they had decided to attend school, with caution."

Etsuko nodded and looked at what Shigure was trying to hide. "You shouldn't read those types of books. Hatori will burn them if he finds out." With that she stood up and walked away.

It took a bit for her comment to register with him, but the moment it did he stood up and raced after her. "You aren't going to tell him are you? I'm sorry, you know how Akito is…if it were anyone else I would have told you honest to goodness."

Etsuko had made it to the front door, which had been smashed in, and she turned to face him. "I understand, I won't tell him…today." She closed what was left of the door behind her, and walked back to the estate.

Shigure looked at the broken door and rubbed his temple. "The least you could do is apologize for breaking my house."

That night everyone had gone to bed, everyone except for Etsuko. She was too worried to sleep. She wanted to disappear. She rolled over to her side and looked at the red LED lights on her clock. "I'm so dead."

The next morning came fairly quickly. Hatori had walked into Etsuko's room and turned the lights on. He was surprised to see her already awake. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

She turned her head to face him, her eyes red and dark bags were visible under her eyes. "I feel asleep about thirty minutes ago…does that count?"

He looked at her sternly. "It's not healthy to stay up all night, you'll catch a cold. Do you want to stay home?"

Etsuko knew what he was trying to do and she appreciated it, but if she stayed then Akito would punish the both of them. "I'll be ok…thank you." She had told him about Akito's decision and found out that he had been informed shortly before her.

Hatori tried to keep calm for her, but his mind was freaking out. "I'm going to give Akito a quick check up, are you sure…there's nothing I can do?"

"I'm sure, might as well get this over with." She sat up in bed and stretched.

Hatori nodded and closed the door behind him, heading towards Akito. Once he got there he entered his room and began to check his temperature, and breathing. "I need you not to strain yourself today."

Akito looked up at him and smirked. "Of course."

That had been the length of their conversation. After the check-up they walked to the car and Hatori opened the door for him and waited outside of the car for Etsuko. When he saw her, he felt his hand sweat a bit. The thought of what was going to happen frightened him. Etsuko made it to the car and gave him a small smile before getting in the car.

"Sister." Akito acknowledge her in a monotone tone.

Etsuko looked at him for a moment before she looked away. "Good morning." She was tense, but she didn't want him to see it.

"I hope that this meeting goes well…for your sake."

The car began to move, and it headed to the school. While it was in transit, Kyo, Yuki, Momiji, Tohru and Haru all stood at the front gate.

"It shouldn't be long now…they'll be here soon." Haru leaned against the wall and clenched his fists.

Momiji stood by Tohru and held her hand. "Don't worry Tohru, He won't bother you. Etsko is a first year so he should be on the top floor the whole time."

Tohru looked at him and nodded. "I'm not worried, I'm sure it'll be okay."

Yuki wasn't visibly nervous but he was freaking out inside. "We better just stay in our class rooms until we get the okay from Etsuko."

Kyo on the other hand, was visibly upset. He had a clenched fist and his foot tapped on the ground. "This is bullshit! Just because he's here we have to hide like cowards?"

Momiji looked to kyo with the harshest face he could muster. "We're lucky. I don't know what will happen when her teachers tell Akito she doesn't show up."

Kyo let out a small scoff. "Well that's her own fault." He unclenched his fist. "I'm going to class."

As the group went inside and headed to class, the car holding Akito and Etsuko pulled up. The door opened and Etsuko waited for Akito to get out first. Akito got out of the car and he looked around. The building was the same as any school in Japan. A big, cement rectangle. The gates were open and students were out talking.

Akito had never stepped foot inside of a public school. The children at the gate all rudely gawking or whispering about their presence was annoying. "Purely disgusting."

Etsuko stood behind him and watched her classmates begin to spread rumors about the car, the man she was with. She thought that the worst that they would come up with was Akito was some sort of sugar daddy since he was too young to be her father. When entering the school, they had taken off their shoes. Etsuko changed to her indoor shoes and Akito had brought a pair to change to.

"It's truly disgusting here. How can you handle it?" Akito asked, not stifling his voice at all.

Etsuko looked at him for a moment. She had to be on her best behavior. "It's easier once you get used to it."

Akito was now following her, up the stairs and into the teacher's room. "Good morning, Etsuko Sohma year one. I'm here for my conference." She introduced herself to the teacher and stated her reasoning for being there.

Her home room teacher went over to her once she saw that her brother was with her. "Mr. Sohma, Ms. Sohma. I'm glad you could make it. Usually we ask for parental presence but due to the circumstances I'm very glad your brother could come." They bowed and exchanged pleasantries. "please follow me to the conference room."

The teacher walked out of the teacher's room and took them to a small room on the top floor. This was a room that was used for storage, but had probably been cleaned out last night. Etsuko wasn't about to tell her brother of this new renovation.

"Mr. Sohma, my name is Mr. Watanabe. I am Etsuko's home room teacher." The teacher was a tall man. He seemed very young, a full head of black hair, and a smooth looking face. He had to be just a little older than Akito himself.

Akito wasn't used to being called Mr. Sohma but he enjoyed it. He bowed slightly towards the teacher. "Forgive me, I have never been to one of these things. What does this meeting consist of?"

Mr. Watanabe nodded. "Ah yes, well we will just speak about the progress Etsuko has made and things that she can improve on. As well as her future, since she'll be a second year and should be thinking about the entrance exams."

Akito felt as if the information spewing from the teacher's mouth was nonsense. However, he just sat there and listened to him.

"Now, Etsuko has shown some real growth, since she came in the middle of the year it was a bit difficult for her to catch up."

Etsuko could feel the topic of her attendance inch closer and closer.

"She has excelled in math, science, and English." He droned on about how good she was doing, which was surprising to her since she hardly did any work. "However." He paused and it seemed to get the attention of both Etusko and Akito, since both looked more attenetive. "Her attendance has become dangerously low."

Akito sat up a bit more. He didn't care how well his sister was doing, he just needed one thing to keep her in the house, and this was his ticket. "I see, I'm very sorry for my sister disrespect." He bowed. "I assure you, that it'll never happen again."

The teacher was surprised that he had become so apologetic. "T-thank you. If she just makes sure to stay the rest of the school year then it'll be fine."

Etsuko was surprised at how smoothly everything had gone. She knew that it wasn't going to stay that way once at home. "I will try harder."

Akito stood up and straightened out his black suit jacket. "Thank you for your time and hard work Watanabe Sensei. I will make sure that this issue stops here and now."

"But there's more to talk about." The teacher seemed a bit confused.

Akito held his chest. "I understand but you see, my health is failing me. Our doctor has instructed me to not strain myself. So If you'll excuse me. My sister and I will be on our way."

"Well…she doesn't have to go…in fact it's best she stays at school."

Akito didn't want to cause trouble just yet. He nodded and gave a small bow. "She'll walk me to my car then." With that he walked out of the room.

Etsuko had gotten up from the chair and bowed at the teacher. "I'm sorry…I'll be right back." She caught up to him and walked behind him without a word. The bell had rung a few seconds ago and students began to flood the halls. That's when she heard the voice that she had forgotten.

"Hey! Etsuko!" Minoru yelled from a few feet back. He came running up to her, not realizing the taller man in front of her.

She felt her heart race, she had forgotten to tell him about Akito. She was hoping her brother hadn't heard anything, but he had and he stopped and turned around. "Who's calling your name sister?"

"It's…a friend." Etsuko had turned around too and saw him. "Hi Min." hoping he wasn't going in for a kiss, or a hug was her main concern.

That's exactly what she did. He hugged her, but quickly let go when his eyes met up with Akito. "Oh I'm sorry."

Akito watched this interaction happen. His face stayed unemotional when he made eye contact with the boy. "Sorry for what? Who might you be?"

It was all over, this was the moment she feared the most. Etsuko knew the outcome of this relationship, and there was no stopping what was about to happen.


	10. Aftermath

It had felt like an eternity. Akito was standing there and he was taking it all in. He didn't know who the stranger was, and why he had chosen to befriend his sister, but he knew that this encounter made her anxious and that was satisfying.

Min didn't understand the severity of the situation, and he had no reason to since Etsuko had never gone into detail about her brother. When Akito had asked who he was Min stood a bit taller. They were first years but he was tall for his age, he stood almost the same height as Akito. "My name is Min, I'm…" he thought for a moment for the best answer. "…a friend of Etsuko. We're in the same class." He bowed politely.

Akito was impressed by the height of the boy, but he knew deep down that he was more than just a friend. As they stood there Akito looked into Mins eyes. He hadn't recognized him from those many years ago, but something was familiar. He looked over at Etsuko as Min was bowing. Their eyes locked on Etsuko could feel the icy cold stare go right through her. When Min stood back up Akito gave a small, shallow bow. "I'm truly sorry that we can't talk longer, I believe you have class to attend. Please, come by the estate anytime." With that he turned on his heels and began to make his way to the car.

Etsuko lingered behind for only a few seconds. "I'll talk to you in a little bit." She gave him a halfhearted smile. She followed Akito outside and to the car where Hatori had been waiting, he didn't look nervous but he was deep down. When he saw them walk out he pushed himself off the car, he had been leaning on, and waited for them to get closer. "You look a bit pale Akito."

Akito's demeanor had changed drastically. He didn't have to be nice to anyone, the stone cold look on his face turned into an even colder scowl. "I'm probably infested with some sort of virus from that disgusting school. Even the teachers were disgusting." Akito had reached the car and he opened the door but lingered a bit before getting in. He looked at Hatori. "Did you know about Etsuko's…friend?"

Hatori kept his face as emotionless as possible, he nodded. "I assume you mean Minoru, yes, I knew about him."

Akito looked at him, locking eyes. "I invited him to the estate, see that he knows the way." He got in the car and closed the door, leaving the two outside. Etsuko was relieved that nothing had happened, as far as she could tell. Hatori let out a mall sigh. "I don't know what that boy is to you Etsuko…but I'm warning you now…don't make it anything more than a friendship." It didn't sound like a warning, it sounded more like a command.

Etsuko knew where this was coming from, he had lost his love due to Akito's rage and jealousy. "It'll be different…" She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself more than him. She gave him a small smile and turned around to head back into the building. She heard the car drive off and at that moment she felt a wave of relief and a sense of panic. She made it to the entrance, where she had to change into her indoor shoes again, but she couldn't seem to find the strength. She just stood there staring at her shoe cubby. The bell rang for the next class to begin, and Etsuko still stood in the entrance, her body stiff but her hands shaking uncontrollably. "I... don't understand." She said to herself.

It wasn't long until she had found herself running. She opened the door to the school, calmly closing the sliding doors behind her. She walked from the door to the gate of the school, a couple of feet from the actual building, then her walking became a small jog, which turned to a complete run. Where she was heading was a mystery. She ran and ran for what felt like hours, it wasn't until she felt a stitch on her side that she stopped. She stood and looked around. This wasn't the city she lived in, it was a small neighboring city.

"Hey." A guy's voice piped up from behind her.

She turned around swiftly, when she saw who it was she was even more confused. "H…Haru? What are you doing here?"

Haru and Etsuko never really spent time with each other as kids, and that didn't change much as young adults. There was no real reason. The two of them just never seemed to be alone together. Haru looked around, he was in his school uniform, and sitting on a large boulder on the side of the road. The town locals had stared at him, because of the obvious outrageous hair. "I'm lost. I was taking a new way to school and ended up here."

Etsuko stared at him for a moment. "But…" she had seen him walk to school with Momiji and how they got separated was another mystery for another day. "I'm lost too…"

He nodded and stood up. "Well, good thing you found me."

"That doesn't make sense… you just said you were lost."

Haru looked at her with a blank look on his face. "…that's right."

Etsuko sighed and held her side, there was a shooting pain. "I shouldn't have ran…too much exercise is going to kill me." She groaned through the pain. "Anyway, I came from that way…I think if we just follow the road it'll be fine."

He nodded. He walked the opposite way and Etsuko thought that he had just ignored her. "Haru! Are you even listening!" she yelled at him, but the sharp pain in her side wasn't going away. It caught her breathe and caused her to double over. She held her side tightly as she kneeled in the middle of the dirt road.

"I'm just getting my bike." He said quietly to himself, he hadn't heard her groan in agony, because he was counting to himself to make sure his anger didn't get the better of him. When he got his bike and turned he noticed her. "You don't look too good."

"Thanks Einstein…" she let out a groan. "I'm fine…just help me up." Haru put out his hand for her and as she grabbed it she tried to pull herself up. She had just gotten on her feet when she let out an incredibly loud moan, she held her side even tighter and bent over to relived some of the pain.

The people around them walked by and looked at the two. Since they were in their school uniform they all probably thought they had snuck off to be lovers of sorts. Haru could hear a few whispers, a few older woman calling Etsuko a tart, and him a strange looking boy.

"How could a school allow such hair?" one old woman asked her friend.

"It must not be a very good school, her skirt is so short. In my day we had skirts all the way to our ankles. The other woman replied.

Haru felt his ears twitch, and his temper rising. He had drowned out Etsuko's moaning and focused on the two talking away. The more they talked, the angrier he got. Eventually he couldn't take it any longer, he had let go of Etsuko's hand and walked over to the women. "Hey!"

The women jumped, and looked up at the menacing young man. "Y-y-yes?" one tried her best to sound like an adult and not a child that had been caught stealing.

"We can hear you old hags! I don't know about my friend but what you're saying really pisses me off! Who are you to judge us huh? Did someone die and leave you two in charge?! So what if my hair is this way? And my friends skirt? Only perverts would mention anything like that. Is that what you are? Are you perverts? Do I need to contact the authorities?!"

The women were too rattled to even answer the questions. They were more afraid of the young man. It wasn't until Etsuko groaned louder. "HARU!" She screamed. "Leave them the hell alone and help me…please." She added the last part since he was in his black mode, his darker side really liked politeness.

Haru looked behind him and saw her on her knees again. "What's wrong with you?" His black side still present.

"Gee…let me just give myself a health check! I…" she groaned. "I don't know. Let's just go."

He turned swiftly around, back to the women. "You're lucky. Another minute and you two would have been old leather bags." With that, he walked back and helped her up again. He had taken his bike and put up the kick stand and straddle it. "You can sit on the back."

Etsuko managed to make the small walk and sat on the back side of his bicycle. She was able to hug the guys in her family, the reasoning was unknown, but in this case it worked out. As Haru began to bike, Etsuko wrapped her arms around his torso. She couldn't pay attention to where he was going so she had no idea he was going the wrong way.

Meanwhile, Momiji was in class and it was a passing period. He had about ten minutes until the next class started, and usually he talked to Haru in the room next door but when he went in he was told he wasn't there. He had never shown up. "Huh? But he walked in with me…didn't he." Momiji shrugged and walked back to his room. "I'm sure he's fine."

"Haru…I swear if I die I'm coming back to haunt you!" Etsuko knew she should have paid attention. They had riding around for what seemed like hours. "I need to get to the estate and you went the wrong way!"

"Stop yelling in my ear! I went the way you told me!"

"YOU WENT THE EXACT OPPOSITE WAY I TOLD YOU!"

Haru made a complete and abrupt stop. "I have a cell phone."

Etsuko felt her body become weaker, the pain was still there but she managed to ignore it. "You…what?"

Haru pulled out a small phone from his pocket. He had changed back to normal. "My parents gave it to me if I get lost and I can call someone."

"You had it the whole time…"Etsuko felt her arms tighten around Haru's torso. "Call Hatori….right…now." She said calmly but angrily.

Haru did just that, once Hatori answered Haru began explaining their situation, all the while trying to pry Etsuko's grip from his body. "Yea, I ran into her and then suddenly she started to just whine about her side hurting." He winced and he felt her squeeze tighter.

Hatori had a hard time believing that Haru had ran into Etsuko, but he didn't have the luxury to find out why they weren't in school to begin with. "Where are you two?"

Haru looked around, they had managed to get lost in the woods. "I'm not entirely sure."

Hatori was silent for a moment. He didn't understand how this happened but he could hear Etsuko's groans in the background. "Stay where you are…I'll figure it out." He hung up the phone leaving Haru and Etsuko alone in the woods.

Etsuko didn't know what was wrong with her, the sharp pain on her right side was like a knife being rammed into her. "What…did he say?" She was still on the bike, she had let go of him but continued to lean against his back. Her eyes were getting heavy.

"He said we should stay, but I think we should head back to town, it'll be easier." Haru had felt his body become much heavier. Her turned to look behind him and noticed that she had passed out. "Well…I guess we'll stay here."

"What are you?" a younger Haru sneered at a younger Etsuko, he was obviously black Haru at the time. "You're not part of the zodiac and you're not in the same position as Akito…that makes you an outsider. So why are you always around? You're not wanted here!"

The girl stood there, her hair put up in perfect pigtails, her clothes pressed and arranged to match everything she had on, including the bracelets. She looked at Haru, she had seen him around the estate, but she was barely allowed to wander. She had only seen him with the others from inside the main house. "I don't understand." The way Etsuko spoke was proper, she made sure to say the right things, and to bow when needed. She was too proper for a child, but that was the life she lived.

Haru sighed angrily. "I know who you are…you're Akito's sister right? I've seen you follow him around like a stupid puppy. I'm wondering why?"

At this age Etsuko was afraid of Akito more than anything, if following his orders made life easier then she would follow him to the end. "I'm…not a puppy."

"So you're just stupid then?"

Etsuko felt the tears form in her eyes. "No…I'm not stupid. He's just…I just…" she couldn't finish what she was trying to say, instead she started to cry.

"What's going on here?" a teenaged Shigure asked as he stood behind Etsuko.

Etsuko had turned around to look up at Shigure, she knew that he was close to Akito, so she was also afraid of him a little bit too. "Nothing…I…just fell." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Haru was just…making sure I was okay."

Shigure knew that this was a lie, she didn't have any scrapes on her and he could tell the Haru had gone black. He gave Haru a long stare, as if trying to force a confession out of him. Haru just looked sheepishly down at the ground.

"Like she said…she fell, she's fine right? I'll go back home." He kicked the air and spun around and hurried off.

Shigure kneeled down to Etsuko's level. "You like alright, enough with the tears." He said softly. He and Etsuko didn't have the relationship she and Hatori had, but for good reason. Shigure was more of Akitos right- hand man and it made her feel like she couldn't be open to him.

"I'm sorry…I'm fine now. Don't tell Akito…Haru really didn't do anything."

Shigure was surprised, he had heard everything of course, he was sent out to keep an eye on her. He had hid behind a few trees and bushes, and since they were children they weren't aware of their surroundings, especially in the confines of the estate. He knew the harsh words that Haru spoke, and even with the connections she had she didn't rat him out.

"I know what you are Etsuko." He fixed a few strands of hair and placed them back in their spot. "…and someday you'll figure it out." He wiped her tears and stood up. "Let's go back."

Meanwhile, Haru hadn't gone far, he stood behind a tree to listen, hoping he hadn't been told on. When he realized that she didn't tattle on him he felt bad, she wasn't so bad. On that day he had made a promise to himself. "I will always look out for you too."

"Hey…you did find us." Haru had looked up at an incredibly frazzled Hatori, and an amused Shigure. Etsuko had her head in his lap, still out cold, and Haru sat on the ground leaned against a tree. "How did you find us?"

Hatori had answered him, in fact he completely ignore him as he went to check on Etsuko. Shigure on the other hand was all more than willing to tell his tale. "Well you see…Tori called me sounding very desperate. He begged me for my help. Once he told me that you two were lost and possibly dying, I called a few of my canine friends to sniff you out. I gave them a shirt from the laundry of Etsuko's room and here are."

"Stop over exaggerating." Hatori chimed in, but for the first time in their entire lives, Shigure had in fact been very truthful. "What happened?"

Haru looked back down at Etsuko, who was asleep but sweating. "She was complaining of pain in her abdominal then she went to sleep."

Hatori was trying with all his might to stay calm, but he knew what the cause could be. "Appendicitis…we need to get her to the hospital."

He scooped her up in his arms and began walking swiftly. Haru followed with his bike, along with Shigure. "How can you tell?"

"It's just a guess, but usually you get pains in the abdominal area, and a fever and maybe some appetite loss. Depending on when the symptoms occurred the lower the chance of a rupture.

Shigure thought for a moment, she had spent a few days at his house, claiming the main house was too crowded and loud. "Come to think of it, she didn't eat anything for the past couple of days."

"What?!" Hatori snapped.

"Well in my defense, I thought she was trying those new diet trends these high school girls do. You remember…what was it when we were young? Ah! The watermelon diet."

Hatori let out a loud growl. "This is why I don't want her to be living in your house. You're too oblivious to everything."

They had eventually made it the Sohma's main hospital, it was a private building where family, and any workers of the Sohma got health care. The procedure was done on Etsuko for an appendix extraction, the surgeon was one of Hatori's co-worker.

Akito was told of this even of course, and he had made it down to the hospital. As he walked into the building, everyone sat up straighter, looked busier, or avoided him all together. This was power he enjoyed having. He found the others in a private waiting room. When he walked in all three men stood up from the chairs. Shigure, and Hatori looked attentive while Haru looked tense. "I trust everything is well."

"She's fine, she's out of surgery and is resting." Hatori informed him.

Akito didn't care about the state of his sister, he just wanted to make her life harder. "What happened?" The sound in his voice was cold, and not caring. "Did you do this? You stupid cow."

Haru stood still, he was concentrating on staying calm. Akito continued to badger him. "You just mess everything up don't you? My sister's life, Rin's life, your parents…we'd all be better off if you were just dead."

"Akito…that's enough. It's not his fault." Shigure tried to intervene.

"Of course it's his fault. He can't do anything right. Even something as simple as finding his way home is an impossible task!

Haru felt his hands clench, he wanted to punch him in the face. He wanted to throw him outside the window but he knew he couldn't. Then a small cough came from the doorway. "Brother…you're here?" Etsuko was completely out of it, pumped with pain medicine. She never referred to him as brother, not since they were very young.

"…yes…I needed to see if she had died…sadly you aren't."

She smiled towards him. "That's nice of you…but please don't blame Haru…he was so helpful." She walked closer to them. Hatori was more concerned of her stitches than what was being talked about.

"This thing…helped you?" For a split moment, Akito and Etsuko had been having a civil conversation, as if they had been close with one another for years.

She nodded and walked closer to Akito, but she tripped a bit and fell. Akito, instinctively put his hands out to catch her, and as he fell towards him he grabbed her by the arms. He had a look of terror on his face as the two of them looked at one another.

"I'm so sorry." She straighten up, she hadn't realized what was happening. When she looked at everyone in her drug induced state, she just saw a bunch of smiling flowers. "You're a pretty flower Akito…a rose…weird."

The whole atmosphere was filled with mixed emotions. Confusion, and fear along with a strong need to laugh. Hatori wrapped his arm around Etsuko and helped her find her balance. "You're really drugged up, let's take you back to the room."

"No! I want to go back to my room!"

"That's where we're going."

"Not a hospital room, my room not here."

Shigure looked at the two and side eyes Akito, who was speechless. "Etsuko…my house is too far."

Etsuko looked at shigure. "You're a lily Shigure… what a stupid flower." She laughed. "Not your house…that place smells like wet dogs. I wanna go to my room at the estate."

Haru frowned because he hadn't expected something like that leaving her mouth. "Hatori's?"

Akito was intrigued on this personality. He hadn't seen it in a very long time. When she was in Kindergarten she had been very affectionate, but it had stopped soon after. "He's too busy with other things, you're a burden."

Etsuko shook her head roughly. "NO SILLY! MY ROOM!" she yelled. "The one in the main house of course…hmm that nice bed…and the window looking out to the mountains…I can see all the beautiful orchards."

"You're stupid, there are no mountains near us or orchards. But if you want to come live at home then so be it." He sneered. "…I can even invite that friend…what's his name?"

Hatori clenched his jaw. Etsuko smiled, a smile only people in love have. "Min…Minoru…that'd be nice. I was so mean to him earlier…would you call him for me big brother?"

"Alright! I'll take you back there but for now let's lay you down." Hatori swooped her up in his arms and walked into the room. He placed her in the bed and started putting covers over her. "You're really high right now. If you could hear the things coming out of your mouth…" He let out a small smirk.

"Hatori…you're a cherry blossom…my favorite flower in the whole world."

He ran his hand through her hair and fixed a few messed up strands. "Sleep now." He walked out and saw only Shigure and Akito. Haru left.

"Make sure you grant my sister's wish…I expect her at the house tonight." Akito smirked and walked out.

Shigure looked at Hatori. "And the plot thickens."

"This isn't one of your books…I told you that your plan was going to end up hurting someone."

That night Hatori had done what Akito had asked for. He had been able to discharge Etsuko from the hospital, against the will of the primary doctor. "Since you're going to be there…I guess…and it's a request from Akito…just make sure she's not stressed."

Hatori assured the doctor that everything was going to be fine, but deep down he knew it wasn't going to be, not in the slightest. He moved Etsuko into her old room. It was next to Akito's room, It was significantly smaller. Inside the room there was a futon, with cherry blossom covered sheets. The room didn't match her age, it was obvious she hadn't stayed in her room in a very long time.

Etsuko was coming out of her slumber, the room was dark and she was tightly tucked in. Her eyes squinted from the little sunlight that shone through. "What…where am I?" she asked herself.

"Your room." A familiar voice answered back. "Apparently."

Etsuko snapped her gaze to the voice, her eyes widened instantly when she saw his face. "M…Min…What…where…I'm really confused."


	11. I'll Love You Until You Don't Hate Me

"For your incompetence and disrespect you can just stay in your room until you learn how to talk to me!" Akito slammed the door and turned a lock. Etsuko stood in her darkened room. She turned away from the door and slowly walked over to her futon and sat on the pink, plush, quilt.

"Brother doesn't mean it…he'll come get me for dinner." The day went on, and she would hear commotion outside her door but no one ever came to get her. She heard people speaking about the preparations of the New Year's banquet. She hear the voice of Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame. She also would hear other voices she couldn't recognize and they all seemed to have no idea she was in her room. Etsuko felt her stomach rumble, the pang of hunger started to creep-up.

Finally the door jiggled a bit and Etsuko jolted up from her bed. However, it was only opened enough for a mysterious hand holding a plate of food to fit. The plate was set on the ground and the door shut and locked once more. This wouldn't the last time Akito punished her in this way nor would it be the worst punishment. Her room, a place that meant sanctuary and safety, became a living hell on earth.

"Min, what are you doing in my room…in the main house…in the estate?" Etsuko had lost a few important events. The last thing she remembered was yelling at Hatsuharu and then passing out. She tried sitting up in bed but felt a sharp pain in her abdomen.

"Careful, you're still healing." Minoru gently pushed her back down. He had been invited to the Sohma estate. When he arrived he asked to see Etsuko and the old lady who was with him took him to her room. He had sat by her side for at least an hour by the time she woke up. "Your brother invited me."

Her brows furrowed as she looked at him. She tried her best to keep her facial features as mutual as possible. "I see."

Minoru noticed she was upset. "I'm sorry. I can tell you and your brother don't get along. I should have just called you when you woke up."

She let out a small sigh. "It's not that…I'm glad you're here." She looked around the room from her futon. Her room looked the same from when she was younger. She hadn't stayed in this room for some time now. It was a reminder of when she felt like a prisoner. "Listen I need to tell you something."

Minoru tilted his head to one side slightly. "Yeah?"

"My brother." She paused. She wasn't sure what to say. Should she warn him about Akito and how horrible he treated everyone? Should she say nothing instead of forget about it? "He-"Before she was able to say much more the door opened. There stood the old woman who had brought Minoru to Etsuko.

"Sorry to interrupt Madame, but your brother has requested an audience with the young man." Etsuko knew how much the old woman hated that she had to be so polite to her. The entire thing was a façade, a show that everyone put on when outsiders entered the estate.

Minoru looked surprised. "Really? Wow." He was naïve to the history that the main house walls held. The secrets that the residents held close to their hearts. "I'll be back, make sure you stay in bed or you'll rip your stitches." He stood up and walked towards the door. Just before leaving he turned around. "I'm glad you're okay." He gave her a smile and left. The old woman gave Etsuko an evil smirk as she closed the door.

Etsuko tried her best to get up from the bed, but the stitches were too fresh and painful. She laid back down and stared at the ceiling. "I can't give up." She tried several times, each attempt hurt more than the last. Tears began to build up in her eyes.

Meanwhile Minoru was kneeling on a cushion across from Akito who was by an open window. Small specks of snow started to fall from the sky. Akito shut the window and walked to his table. "So." He softly broke the silence. "You are my sister's friend. Is that right?" There was an aura about Akito that made Minoru feel intimidated. Akito had such poise and elegance. When he spoke it was soft and at the same time it was as if his words could cut through metal. "Y-yeah…I mean yes…sir…we are." He was stumbling over his words and he felt his hands become sweaty.

Akito smiled. "No need to be nervous. I invited you here to simply get to know my sister's friends." He looked to the window. "Well actually, you would be her first and only friend."

Minoru was shocked. "I'm honored."

"Hmm? I wouldn't say such things." He let out a sigh. "My sister is very sick. She has been for a long time, ever since our parents left."

That was new information. She had never mentioned her parents. She hadn't really mentioned Akito either. It felt wrong to learn these things from him but at the same time he wanted to know more. "I never knew. I'm sorry."

"It's quite alright. I love my sister and I want nothing but the best for her." Akito slowly stood up and walked closer to him. "I must admit that I asked you here under false pretenses." He stood over him now. "I know that you and my sister are more than just friends."

He felt his body tense. He wasn't sure what to say, or what to do. "W-well." When Akito stood over him he looked up at him. His presence was demanding and elegant. "I don't" He didn't know what to say. Lie to him or be truthful? "I like her very much."

Akito grabbed his tie, gently intertwining it through his long fingers. "I think it's admirable for you to take on such a person as a love interest." He brought his mouth down to his ear. "But let me tell you a secret."

Minoru felt his heart race faster and faster. He was frail and small but his body language made Akito seem larger than life. "Yes?" he whispered.

"She is mine. Her place is with this family. Her destiny does not include you or any outsider. So have your fun, and continue your make believe but remember that she has no future with you."

The door opened suddenly and Akito looked up and a look of genuine surprise showed on his face. "You're up?"

Etsuko had no idea what had been said, nor did she know why Akito was so close to Minoru but she knew that she needed to get him out of there. "Yes…I came to show Minoru out. It's getting late and there's school tomorrow."

Minoru was still in shock. He didn't register the voice until seconds later. When he turned around to see if it was really Etsuko he looked surprised and worried. "Etsuko! You shouldn't be out of bed." He got up and rushed to her.

"I'm fine." Etsuko raised a hand. She wanted to keep things between them as platonic as she could. "Is it okay for him to leave Akito?"

"I suppose. Show him to the gate and make sure you get back and rest." He turned and walked towards his table.

False caring? Etsuko thought immediately. There was no way Akito really cared if she got any rest. "Thank you." The way the spoke to each other was fake. Like two businessmen agreeing to a deal. Etsuko turned and limped towards the front door. Minoru closed the door to Akito's room but caught his eye just before the door shut completely.

He caught up to Etsuko and tried to give her a hand. "Here, take my hand."

She brushed it away gently. "Not yet." She said softly. The pain was almost unbearable. Each step she took was a sharp pain through her entire body. But it was worth it if it meant saving Minoru from her brother. The two of them walked in silence. Down the long row of trees, and finally they made it the front entrance. Etsuko held her side. "Listen…about my brother. What did he say to you?"

Minoru didn't skip a beat. He just smiled and shook his head. "He just wanted to know if you and I were dating. I told him that I liked you. That was it."

"Oh" Etsuko didn't know what else to say so they walked in silence for a bit. "My brother is very…protective. I hope he didn't do or say anything to scare you."

He shook his head. "He didn't say anything unusual. I get it, family is complicated." Once they reached the gate he turned to her and smiled his same carefree smile. "Now, make sure you get back home safely and I better not see you tomorrow at school or else."

"Or else?" she smiled. "Or else what?"

"I'll carry you to the hospital and strap you down until you're fully healed." He smiled.

Etsuko rolled her eyes and opened the front gates, which were heavier than she remembered. "Yeah yeah, I hear you loud a clear."

Minoru walked past her. He stopped for a moment and bent down to kiss her gently on the lips. The kiss was quick but it felt like an eternity. "Goodbye for now."

Etsuko felt her face turn red. She went to close the door behind him, but stopped. "Minoru?"

He turned around, his face was also a bit flushed. "Yea?"

"Y-you're welcomed here anytime." She was knew that she didn't have permission for an outsider to come into the estate, but because of the kiss and being in excruciating pain she didn't care.

Minoru looked a little shocked but he soon smiled back towards her. "See you tomorrow then." He waved and walked off.

Etsuko smiled and watched him walk away for a little bit. Eventually she closed the door to the estate and turned around and leaned against the door. "It's super-hot…I should probably go back to bed." She pushed herself off the door and staggered her way down the row of trees. She started to see double of everything, and the world started to spin around her.

"What are you doing out here?" Hatori was walking by, on his way to actually check-up on her. "You shouldn't be out of bed."

She could hear the anger in his voice, but it was a muffled. The world was spinning faster. "Hari…why are there two of you…and why are you guys upside-down?" She felt her eyes roll back and her body fell to the ground.

Hatori was able to grab her just before she fell. He sighed and scooped her up and walked the rest of the way to the main house. He placed her back in her bed and changed her bandages. "You are so stubborn."

The next few days Minoru would walk with Momiji and Hatsuharu to the main house and he would wait outside for Etsuko. On the third day Etsuko felt well enough to walk to the door herself, she was missing a lot of school but Hatori had been able to make arrangements so she could keep up. She stood by the door waiting for Minoru, Momiji and Hatsuharu to turn the corner. She thought it was funny how quickly the three of them became friends. As she stood there she thought about how Akito had been acting towards her. She lived at the main house for almost a week, in her room, eating in the kitchen, and not one word was ever spoken to her. They would cross paths occasionally. She would bow, not wanting to make him angry when she was still recovering was her only goal. He would stare and then get back to what he was doing.

"Etsuko!" A high pitched voice brought her out of her train of thought. "Anyone home in there?" He tapped on her forehead.

She let out a small giggle. "Sorry…I was lost in thought." She opened the door to the estate and looked at the three boys. "How was school?"

Hatsuharu lead the way. "Boring as usual, you're lucky you get to miss so much school."

Momiji had taken out a small snack from his backpack. "He's just mad about the exam we took. He got an F and probably will have to take a few make-up classes before spring break."

"But that's not for a while, you still have time to do better on the other exams." Minoru was the last to enter. He was really starting to feel like he was getting to know the Sohma's in ways that many people never got to. "Speaking of exams, I brought you you're homework from today."

"Wow…you shouldn't have." Etsuko took the folder of papers reluctantly. Hatsuharu and Momiji had said their farewells and went off to their respected houses leaving the other two standing outside the main house.

"How are you feeling today?" Minoru asked sheepishly.

"Much better, I'm able to get out of bed without too much pain. Hatori said I may be able to go back to school tomorrow."

Minoru smiled. He had missed her at school. He hadn't realized how much she was a part of his life. "That's really great!"

"Do you want to go on a walk around the estate? I think I have cabin fever."

"Are you sure you're up to it? This place is huge."

Etsuko smiled. "I'm sure, and trust me…you have no idea."

The two of them started walking around. They walked past many houses, each one of them differed from the other. Occasionally there would be someone out in the yard. They would always stop what they were doing and gawk at the two of them. Etsuko was starting to feel as if she had made the wrong choice. "I wish they'd stop staring."

Minoru, who was oblivious to the whole thing looked at the man who had stopped shoveling his porch. "Nah, don't worry about them. They're just curious."

"You have no idea." It was one thing for her to be at the estate, let alone with a complete outsider. For as long as she could remember people always treated her differently. She was younger sibling of Akito Sohma, head of the family. The cursed children on the zodiac, the ones closest in age, seemed to dislike and distrust her. Her own brother hated her and rumored had it, she was responsible for the parents decision in forgetting them. "I spent most of my time at Shigure or Hatori's place. Plus…you're an outsider so they're a bit confused as to why you're here."

"Why aren't non-Sohma's allowed in here?"

She bit her lip gently. "Well…it's just that…many families here are super private. Akito agrees that only family should really be allowed within these walls." That was her best excuse, without giving up the family secret. "Oh!" she stopped and clapper her hands. "I almost forgot!"

Minoru stopped and looked at her. "Forgot what?"

"You know how New Year's Day is in a few days?"

"Yeah."

"I was wondering." She started to fidget with the button on her jacket. "My family has a banquet that they do every year and it's a long story but I'm not invited. I was wondering maybe you want to spend it with…me? Unless you have plans with your family, in that case I totally understand I'll just spend it with someone who also isn't invited to the banquet." She stated to feel herself ramble.

Minoru looked at her and as she went on and on he couldn't help but laugh a bit. "I don't have plans…my parent's died a year ago."

Etsuko was shocked. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

Minoru shook his head. "I never tell people. Actually only a few teachers know and now you."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

"My father was really sick, the doctors didn't know what was wrong with him. One morning he didn't wake up. He went peacefully. My mother on the other hand, tried her best to take care of me and her. But she couldn't take death of my father." Minoru paused, the wounds were still fresh. "She killed herself."

Etsuko stood there in shock. How could she not have known? The signs were all there weren't they? He always had a bento, which looked like a mother had made it. His clothes were always pressed and neat. He was always smiling, always looking out for people. How could she have missed the fact his name wasn't on the sheet for parent-teacher conferences? How did she miss the fact that he was allowed to have an afterschool job like Tohru? The fact of the matter was that he had done such a good job fooling everyone, the signs were covered up. "So you live alone…"

Minoru noticed the change in her behavior. "Oh Etsuko, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad. I mean yea I live alone in a cute apartment. But I get to come here and see you and hang out with Momiji and Hatsuharu…so I'm not really alone."

"How can you always be smiling when something like this happened not that long ago?"

Minoru thought for a moment. "I don't know, I just have people who I want to be with and I want to live in there here and now. I don't want to waste it by being sad or wishing I could change things. I want to spend it with you. With my friends. With people who are here."

Etsuko felt tears rolling down her face. "I'm sorry. I can't stop."

Minoru gave her a small smile and wrapped his arm around her and brought her in for a tight hug. "To answer your question. Of course I'll spend the holiday with you."

The two of them stood outside, snow began to fall again. Large fluffy flakes piled on the bushes and slowly started to cover the ground.

They slowly walked towards Hatori's house. Etsuko wanted to keep Minoru far from Akito as she possibly could. She knew Akito knew about the two of them. She was just waiting for the dream to stop, for the day Akito puts an end to it all.

"You two 'ought to know better than being out in this cold." Hatori lightly scolded them as they entered the house. He was wearing sweatpants and a large shirt and was leaning against the door frame of the kitchen and living room.

"Sorry! It's my fault." Etsuko slipped off her shoes and walked towards the kotatsu. She sat down, pulling the big blanket over her lap and letting out a sigh of relief. "So waaarm."

Minoru also took off his shoes and stepped up on to the floor of the house. He looked at Hatori, who scared him more than Akito did to some extent. "Thank you for allowing me to visit and come over." He bowed deeply.

Hatori didn't change the facial expression, it stayed sullen. "You're welcome."

"Hatori, I don't think I've ever seen you without a suit on." Etsuko tried to soften the air that was getting more and more tense.

He raised a brow. "That can't be." He thought a bit longer. "Perhaps you're right."

Minoru went and sat across from Etsuko. He had taken his backpack off and opened it, taking out books and papers. "Right, so we need to get you caught up on home work. We also should start studying for the exams."

"Exams? Those don't even happen until way later." Etsuko whined.

"Doesn't matter, at the rate you skip classes and now missing because your surgery you need all the prep time you can get."

Hatori wasn't interested in what was going on, but he was inclined to observe. He watched the two of them speak and laugh together and for a moment it brought a small smile on his face.

"Oh! Hatori did you make tea?" Etsuko stood up, a bit too quickly than she should have but she wanted any excuse to not study. "I'll get everyone a cup." She shuffled her way into the kitchen. Hatori walked over to the table and stood next to Minoru and looked down at him.

"Tell me something."

Minoru felt his throat dry, he really wanted that tea now. "Y-yes."

"What are you trying to do here?" Hatori's face got even sterner, if that was even possible. "With her."

"Uh…I'm trying to do homework sir…" Minoru didn't understand the relationship Hatori and Etsuko had, nor could he ever understand, but he knew that Etsuko was fond of him.

Hatori continued to stare at him. He knew that their relationship was bound to end. How badly it was going to end was something he was trying to figure out. Akito hadn't put a stop to it, meaning he had some alternative motive. He didn't want to see Etsuko, or even the boy, get hurt. "Don't hurt her or allow her to get hurt."

"Sorry that took way longer than it should have." Etsuko came out with a small tray with three cups of tea on it. She looked at the two guys, Hatori standing over Minoru. "Hatori, don't bully him please." She walked between them and sat down the tray on the table. She gave Minoru a quick glance and winked him with a smile.

"I did no such thing. I was just giving him some advice." Hatori took his cup of tea. "You two get studying, I expect all A's Etsuko. I will be in the study, don't stay up too late." He turned and began to walk out of the room.

Etsuko followed behind him. "Keep dreaming, oh also I went ahead and started a bath for you. The water should be cooled down in a few minutes." She watched him walk into his study and close the door behind him, leaving slightly ajar. She came back to the table and sighed. "Sorry…he's just a little over protective."

Minoru had taken a sip of his tea already. He was so nervous that his hands were still shaking. "I understand, but can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

He let out a small sigh. He didn't want to come off as mean or intrusivie. "What is Hatori to you? I mean why do you live here and why does he seem to always be around you."

Etsuko never really thought about her relationship with Hatori. No one had really brought it up, and Shigure and Ayame never talked about it. "I guess when you bring it up it does seem kind of odd. The two of us together."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry or to be rude."

She shook her head and giggled a bit. "You aren't. We have an odd relationship…I totally get it." She took a sip of tea and then began to fiddle with a pen that was beside her. "Hatori is like…a father to me I suppose. My parents chose to leave me and my brother."

Minoru was listening intently. Sipping his tea while she spoke.

"What do you mom and dad are leaving?" A very young Etsuko asked Akito, sitting on a cushion in his room. She had on a red yukata, her hair done all nice and neat.

"What part are you too stupid to understand! They chose to forget about me! They couldn't stand the sight of you and they wanted to have their memories to be erased. They wanted to have never remembered having children, all thanks to you."

Etsuko felt tears begin to form, her throat tightened and her made herself smaller. "What…did I do?"

Akito looked at her. He was lying of course. They had chosen to forget them because of his sickness. Because he was impossible to handle, especially becoming more greedy with his power in the family. "What did you do? Do you really have to ask that?" Akito laughed. "You were a mistake, you weren't meant to be born at all. When you were born mother and father wanted to give you up, to be raised by another family. When they were told they couldn't do that, they tried their best to live with their mistake. Tried to love you. It was too difficult so they just chose to start over again. They gave up their right to be the head family. Hatori erased their memories and they went off to live in America where they were free of you."

Etsuko began to cry, her knees brought to her chest and her face buried. "I'm sorry! I didn't know…I don't want them to go…I don't want them to forget."

Akito walked over to her, standing over her and running his hand through her hair. "It's all your fault. Never forget that, and never forget that I have allowed you to stay. I, the head of the family, have allowed you to stay." He grabbed a fistful of her hair and brought her to her feet. "You belong to me."

Etsuko let out a cry and when Akito let go she stood back up and ran out of the room. She ran out of the house and into a small garden a few feet away. She ended up falling to the ground, tripping on her yukata. She laid there, sobbing.

A young Hatori, who had just become a doctor walked by and heard someone crying. As he investigated the noise further he was surprised to see Etsuko. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're going to get sick out here, and your clothes are going to get filthy."

Etsuko flinched and she felt a hand on her. She looked up to see a kind, yet stoic looking man. She knew him, he would come by the house often. Etsuko sat up, kneeling on the ground. "You're…Hatori right?"

"Yes."

This was the person responsible in her parents leaving. He had erased their memories and made her life miserable. "You…" She could feel more tears fall down her face. "You erased mama and papa's memories right!"

Hatori pulled his hand away. He looked down, she was too young to understand their reasoning and he was sure Akito didn't tell her the truth. He nodded. "I did. I'm sorry."

"I hate you! I wish you were never born!"

He understood that the words were coming from a place of hurt. Her mother and father had wanted to start a new life. They knew that leaving Etsuko behind was ill-advised but they didn't want any connection, other than name, to be connected to the Sohmas. "I see. Well I guess that is only one thing to do." Etsuko felt her body being pulled into his. Her arms wrapped around her small body. His hug was warm, and kind. "I will have to love you until you don't hate me."

"So…Hatori kind of raised me. When Shigure and Ayame were off doing the single bachelor life, Hatori was there to take me to my first day of school, he was there to teach me so much stuff. Even when I wasn't allowed to leave the house…he always made sure I was doing alright."

Minoru had finished his tea and he was listening so intently on her story that he didn't notice that he was holding her hands. "Your brother was wrong. You aren't a mistake. I'm so happy you are who you are."

She smiled and pulled her hands away to wipe away a few tears. "Thank you. The funny thing is…when Hatori hugged me…I instantly regretted what I had said to him. He's done so much for me since then and I can never repay him."

"I don't think he's looking for you to repay him. If anything he just wants you to be happy."

"That's what I want for him…he was happy once. He had a girlfriend and everything. They were so in love…but it didn't last. It nearly broke Hatori…and completely broke her. I spent weeks coming by the house after she left. I tried so hard to make him better…to make him feel less alone. Eventually he was able to get back to a sense of normalcy but I know he hurts to this day."

"He's very lucky to have you."

She shook her head. "I don't do anything. I'm pretty selfish. I always need him more than he needs me. He always fixes my mistakes and makes sure that I'm ok…I can't do any of that for him."

"Hey, you being there in his darkest days is not selfish. Sure you may take more from him but I'm sure he allows it because he cares for you so much. I get the feeling that he's happy when you and the rest of your family is happy, at least that's the impression I get."

"You think?" She smiled "You know…I was invited to her wedding…the ex-girlfriend. I want to go because I want to make sure that she turned out okay too. Because if she's happy then Hatori can start searching for happiness. But am I traitor if I go?"

"No!" Minoru stood up and walked over to sit next to Etsuko. "No, you aren't. You could never." He wiped the tears from her eyes. "If you want to go, you should go."

"It's not until the spring so I have time to think about it. By the way…can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Minoru smiled. They had learned so much about each other today. He was starting to feel like she was getting better, she was able to smile genuinely and to allow him into her world.

"What becomes of snow when it melts?" This was a saying she heard Hatori often ask people. Those who answered spring, according to him, were the type of people to keep.

"When snow melts it becomes mud."

Etsuko and Hatori, who was listening in on the entire conversation, looked shocked.

"It takes a lot of work for snow to melt. It has to get help from the warm rays of the sun…then once all the mud is dried up, can spring come."

"I never thought of that before." Etsuko smiled. "It's getting super late…and we didn't get any work done."

"Don't worry, I'll come by tomorrow if that's ok."

Hatori walked in with his empty cup of tea. "You may see her at school tomorrow."

"Thank you very much for letting me come by so many times." Minoru bowed profusely.

Hatori waved his hand. "I trust next time you two won't waste time walking around in the cold."

"Yes sir."

Etsuko sighed. "I'll walk you out." She stood up and grabbed a jacket and put her shoes on. "Take a bath so I can take one and get to bed." The two of them walked out of the house and made their way to the entrance gates.

"Thank you for inviting me." Minoru said once they reached the gate. "I always have a great time with you."

"I have a great time with you too, and thanks for all the homework I have to do."

"Honestly, if you hadn't skipped all those days you wouldn't have so much now."

Etsuko laughed. "I guess. Well…be safe walking home."

"I will, I hope I see you at school tomorrow."

As the finished saying their goodbye's they had no idea of the mysterious figure that stood behind a trunk of tree watching them. "Soon…the plan will be implemented." The tall figure whispered to himself. He snuck away once Minoru and Etsuko had parted. He made his way to the main house window, where Akito opened the window and sat by the sill.

"They didn't see you did they?"

The young man shook his head. He felt Akito brush his hand on his face gently. "They had no idea I was there."

"Good, then it's all going as I planned."


	12. Give it a Try!

"How dare you! What makes you think you can judge me! I'm your mother! I'm an adult grieving, I'm allowed to have a drink or two." A middle aged woman, with disheveled hair, screamed at Minoru. Bags had grown under her eyes, her skin resembled that of a woman twice her age. "I lost my love! He's gone! I have no one!" Minoru's father had just passed away, about a week ago. What followed was a week of his mother binge marathon. She drank anything, beer, sake, hard liquor was her go to but they ran out.

Minoru stood in front of the screaming woman. He was doing everything he could not to erupt with anger. Did he mean nothing to her? Was he not loved? "I know mom…I lost him too."

The woman let out a mocking laugh and gulped down a glass of beer. "Ha! You lost him too? You didn't know him."

"What do you mean? He was my father…"

"You didn't know him like I did. I've known him my whole life, I gave him my whole life. You were nothing but ungrateful! Spoiled! A horrible son!"

His mother wasn't wrong. He had been a horrible son. Since middle school all he did was skip class and hang out with his so called friends. When he was questioned, all he did was yell and accuse them of not trusting him. He'd run away several times, or lock himself in his room. Even as he started high school about month ago he hadn't changed. He was still that same angry person. "You're right…I gave both you and dad so much trouble…but" he clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles began to turn white. "But to tell me that I didn't know him! To throw me aside like I never existed! That's not what he would want!

A noise of flesh hitting flesh filled the room. The woman stood there, her hand on her son's cheek which now turned red. "I wish you never existed, all you did was bring him heartache. Every time you snuck out of the house, or when the school would call reposting your absence. He apologized for your behavior to teachers and neighbors. What did you give him in return? Tell me what you told him that night!"

Minoru felt the sting of his mother's strike. However, it didn't hurt as much as the words he recalled telling his father. Words that he had told him the day before his sudden death. "I told him…to go die." Minoru finally answered his mother as he began to sob uncontrollably. He couldn't take it any longer. He felt as if he was suffocating. "There! I admit it! It's my fault! I was the one who wished for his death! I'm sorry!" He slapped her hand away and ran past her out of the apartment. He ran down the road, bumping into people that were in his way.

When he had finally ran out of energy, he had managed to get himself a bit lost. That's when he noticed a girl climbing the side of a wall. "Strange." He said to himself.

"Miss! Get down from there! You'll get hurt." A voice from the other side called out.

"That would be better than living in this hell!" The girl replied. "I thought I told you all to go to hell!"

Minoru watched on as the girl, now sitting on the ledge of the wall, screamed at someone on the other side. He noticed that the wall she was climbing was actually an enclosure, it covered several blocks. "Rich people drama." He knew it was rude, but he was curious of what was unfolding.

"The young master is very angry with you, stop this immediately."

"Oh! Is that so? Is the young master angry? Well hopefully he's SO angry that it kills him!" She mocked the woman. "Like I said, I'm never coming back. Don't look for me, don't ask around about me. Act like I never existed!" She began to climb down from the ledge but lost her footing.

Minoru let out an audible gasp and sprinted towards her. He just made it in time. A young girl fell almost perfectly in his hands. He looked at her and became entranced.

"Let go of me." She jumped out of his hands. "Who do you think you are?"

Minoru, still enchanted by her beauty, just stood there.

The girl blinked a few times, then waved her hand in front of him. "Hello…anyone home?"

He shook his head, coming back to his current reality. "Oh sorry…it's just…uh…you gave me kind of scare."

"Well…thanks for catching me…" She let out an audible gasp and turned her head towards the gate, as it opened. When

Minoru looked at what had caught her attention he tilted his head to one side. "Who are they?" He turned back to face her but noticed she had disappeared. "Huh…where did she go?"

A few women and men came out. "Etsuko!" one of them yelled. They had turned and ran the opposite way of where Minoru was standing.

"Phew, they're gone." Etsuko said as she stepped out of a bush that was behind Minoru.

Minoru jumped back. "What…how…"

"Shhh." She pressed her finger to his mouth. "I don't want them to find me."

He blushed as her slender finger pressed against his lips. Her skin was so soft. He watched her sneak towards the gate. Just before she entered back into the estate she looked at Minoru. "Thanks again." With that the doors to the estate closed.

That was the last he had seen her, but he wanted to see her again. He wanted to get to know her. Something drew him closer to her, like an invisible string connected their souls together. Minoru went to a park and sat on a swing. He spent the rest of the night thinking of the mystery girl, and he then started to think about his father and the last conversation they had just before he died.

"I don't want to go to that school ever again!" Minoru screamed. "I hate it there, everyone there hates me!"

"You've only been at Kaibara High school for a month, you have to give it time." His father tried to calm him down.

"I don't have any friends, all my friends went to Seriyo High School! That's where I wanted to go! Why won't you let me go there?!"

"You'll have more opportunities at this school. It's one of the best high school in Japan. I had to call in a lot of favors for you to get admitted, please give it a try."

"You just want to see me unhappy don't you? What? I mess up your image too much? Are the other parents talking? God I just wish you would die sometimes!" Minoru slammed his fist against the wall before storming off to his room. The next day, his father never woke up and Minoru had to live with the fact his last words were that of hate.

As he walked back to his apartment he entered the room thinking his mother would scream at him. Instead he saw his mother passed out on the couch, a pile of beer bottles on the floor. He sighed and walked over to her, put a blanket on her and cleaned up the bottles. He walked pass the hole in the wall, it made him stop and stare at it."Dad…I promise…from now on I'm going to give it a try." Minoru whispered.

Months went by since the death of his father. Minoru got his life together, he started to go to class, and participate in after school clubs. He realized that he was missing out on so many things. His father was right, there were opportunities at this school that he wouldn't have had elsewhere. He had made some copies for the student council, the prince of the school had actually asked him to make the copies. He didn't mind, it meant he was able to wander the halls a bit. Once the copies were made Minoru walked out of the room with the stack of papers, and he was focusing on balancing them so they wouldn't fall. That's when he felt like he was hit by a brick wall. His papers went flying, and he fell backwards. Once the chaos had settled he looked to see what he had ran into.

"Opps, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." A familiar voice said. Minoru looked at the girl, his heart skipped a beat. This was the same girl he had seen months ago. She was right here, in front of him, talking to him.

"No. I'm sorry. I should have been more aware of my surroundings." This had to be fate. He met her by chance and then again here at school by chance?

"It's very nice to meet you. I'm Etsuko Sohma."

Minoru was surprised. She was part of that family. The family of really good looking men. It didn't surprised him honestly. She was good looking as well. They spoke for a bit, he lied and said he was a class representative. Why did he lie? He met her older cousin, who was a bit scary. He quickly gathered his papers and walked off. He spent all day thinking about her. Thinking about how different she was compared to the night they met. He wondered if she remembered him at all, if she did, she didn't act like it.

"Listen up guys!" The teacher stood up from his chair. "We have a new student. She transferred here from a private school, please give her warmest welcomes."

"Thank you sensei. Thank you everyone. My name is Etsuko Sohma. I'll be part of class 1-D, I hope we have a great year."

Minoru was shocked that this girl was put in his class. He knew that this was fate.

"A Sohma? Like the prince and carrot top?" A student near Minoru whispered.

"She's pretty hot. I'm glad that a girl finally came to our school." Another boy whispered back.

Minoru ignored them. In his mind he had decided that he was going to get to know Etsuko.

"Minoru Tamotsu you have a phone call in the office." The loud speak interrupted class. Everyone turned to look at him.

Minoru stood up, a bit embarrassed. He walked out of the class and made his way to the office. Etsuko watched him for a bit before being assigned a seat. Once he reached the office he was given the phone. The voice had explained that a neighbor came to check on his mother. When she entered the apartment she found her dead. The cause of death was overdose on medication. They did everything they could but she passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital. Minoru stood there shocked, the phone receiver fell from his hand and dangled off the desk. He thought his mother was doing better. A teacher came over to him and finished the conversation with the doctor. He hung up and put his hand on his shoulder. The funeral for his mother wasn't big at all. His mother was an only child and both her parents had passed away. The family on her father's side didn't come for selfish reasons. He watched as they laid his mother to rest, next to his father. He stood all alone for hours. Eventually he made his way back to the apartment. The rooms were so big now. He looked at the hole he punched in the wall months ago. He fell to his knees and began to cry. He had never felt more alone in his life.

Time went on slowly. Minoru had ignored school quite a bit. He sat alone at lunch, stayed to himself during free time, his life was a haze for months. It wasn't until about Halloween that he decided to make a choice. "I'm done!" He screamed and slammed his fists on his desk.

"Mr. Tamotsu! Stand outside in the hallway!" The teacher yelled, probably because he was startled ny the sudden outburst.

The class giggled and whispered about how it was so unusual. Etsuko, who had been seated a few seats behind him just looked at Minoru. He felt incredibly embarrassed and bowed profusely. "I'm sorry." He felt his face go red and he quickly walked out of them. While he stood in the hall he sighed to himself. "How stupid. But I am done, I'm done feeling sad. I'm going to keep my promise to dad. I'm going to give it a try."

He was going to get to know Etsuko. He had observed her several times with her cousins and Tohru Honda. Something about her drew him closer to her. Maybe it was her eyes? They held a sense of sadness that he knew all too well, and perhaps for selfish reasons he wanted to fix that. Maybe it was the fact they had so many chance encounters that he felt as if the universe was telling him to befriend her.

After class he had followed her out of the school building and he watched her sit and read a book under a tree. Something so simple, and she made it seem magical. How was he supposed to know that his life would be forever changed?

"Min! Open up!" Etsuko knocked on his apartment door. He had invited her over to his place for New Year's. Etsuko had apparently spent an entire week at her family estate and was going crazy. He thought that since she recovered enough to go to school, she could manage to spend a few days with him. He remembered the conversation with Hatori all too vividly.

"So, you want to spend three days with Etsuko is that it?" Hatori sat in his big black chair in his office.

Minoru, who was kneeling in front of him, nodded. "Yes, sir." It felt like he was asking for her hand in marriage.

"You live by yourself?"

Minoru gulped. "Yes. My parents passed away."

Hatori leaned back in his chair. Etsuko had begged him to be nice. He sighed for a moment. It seemed that his warning to her went unheard. He was also surprised the Akito had allowed this relationship to go for this long. "Letting a teenage girl go over to her boyfriend's house where there are no parents seems like a decision only a moron would make." Hatori had only one man in mind as he spoke about morons.

"Oh! I promise I would never try to do anything! I mean…not that I was thinking about it. Just so you know…not to say you were thinking about it!" Minoru had never been so flustered in his life. He doubled over with exhaustion. "I promise I will be nothing but a gentleman. There are several spare rooms and she can always come home at night if that is more suitable."

Hatori had to admit, the boy was very proper. He couldn't imagine any boy his age doing this. "Fine. Etsuko may spend the New Year's holiday with you.

"Thank you so much!" He bowed several times. "I promise I'll be nothing but a gentleman!"

Minoru opened the door. "You can't just scream in apartment buildings. The neighbors will complain." He grabbed her hand and gently tugged her inside. He closed the door.

"This is your apartment? Wow! It's huge." Etsuko looked around in awe.

Minoru snickered. "Oh please, this is nothing compared to the estate."

"But…this is all yours."

"It was my parents but when they passed the landlord was nice enough to rent it to me discounted."

Etsuko gasped. How could she be so insensitive? "I'm sorry…I didn't mean."

He shook his head. "It's ok. I knew what you meant. Anyway, I have a few things for us to do while we wait for the countdown. I have movies, and food, and most importantly at home karaoke!"

Etsuko smiled. He was super charged with excitement. "It's just the two of us. You didn't have to plan so much. I'm just happy to be here."

"I know, but you told me that your family has a party that you're not invited to, so I thought we'd have our private party."

"That's so thoughtful of you."

Minoru laughed heartedly. "That's me! Mr. Thoughtful!"

"Mhmm, well Mr. Thoughtful, could you show me to my room?" Etsuko lifted her two duffle bags.

"Oh right, my bad." He took the bags off her shoulders. "Geez, you're only staying a few days. What did you pack?"

"I just wanted to be prepared for anything!" She followed him to one of the rooms. She noticed the photos of his mom and dad. He looked just like his father.

"Well" he put her bags next to the bed. "This is the guest room. The bathroom and shower area are right across the hall. I'll be one room down.

She looked around at the guest room. Everything in it seemed to have a place and nothing was out of order. "Yuki would be jealous of your cleanliness."

He tilted his head a bit but laughed a bit. "I heard he was a little messy."

She thought about Shigure's house before Tohru. "Yeah…just a little. Hey, I'm going to change into something more comfortable. Do you mind?"

"Oh yeah…I'll start up the movie and dinner." He left the room, closing the door behind him. He made his way to the kitchen and as he was cutting some veggies for their hot pot he let out an audible gasp. "Something more…comfortable? Does she mean…" He briefly imagined her walking out of the room with silk shorts and tank top on. He shook his head. "Stop it! You're a gentleman. You shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that…but what if she does." He turned red. They hadn't been dating for a long time, if one could even call it that. They hadn't said the L word, so why would she be dressing so provocative. "Get yourself together!"

"Min? Are you ok?" Etsuko interrupted his self-monologue.

Minoru jumped and let out a small scream. "I'm not a dirty old man!" He turned around and instantly calmed down. He looked at her black, baggy sweatpants and oversized t-shirt. There was nothing to worry about he sighed.

Etsuko walked over to him and looked at what he was cooking. "Are you making hotpot?"

"Yep, is that ok?"

"Are you kidding me? I love hotpot!" Etsuko squealed. "I can't wait. Can I help with anything?"

"Let's see, can you make the broth and I'll finish cutting up the vegetables."

"Roger." Etsuko went to work adding the ingredients to make the broth. The two of them worked in silence for a while. She found it peaceful, that the room didn't have to fill with conversation and noise to feel welcoming.

Minoru smiled to himself as he finished cutting up the items, he had forgotten how nice it was to have someone else in the apartment. He took the cutting board and carried it over to the stove where Etsuko was standing. He stood behind her and brought the board around and poured the veggies into the pot. "Careful, don't get splashed."

His presence was calming. For years Etsuko had felt like she was standing in the middle of a storm, and Minoru was the sun that was trying to fight through the clouds. "Now we wait." She moved away from him, but grabbing his hand, she walked towards the couch.

He followed her and sat down next to her. He wanted to say something, a feeling that he had had for some time now. "Etsuko."

Etsuko was reading the back of a DVD case. When she heard her name she looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"I know we've only been dating a few months, but I have to tell you something. Etsuko, I Lo-"He was cut off by a knocking on the door. They both turned their attention to the door, and then at each other a bit puzzled. "I'm not expecting anyone." He got up and looked at the small video camera next to the door. A tall man was standing on the other side. Minoru pressed the intercom. "May I help you?"

The man looked at the camera and cleared his throat. "I'm here to fetch Mr. Sohma."

Etsuko stood up and rushed to the door. When she looked at who was speaking, he heart sunk into the pits of her stomach. It was a henchman of her brother's. Etsuko opened the door angrily. "What do you want?"

The man bowed. "Your immediate presence is required back home."

Etsuko looked at him confused. "No, the banquet should be starting soon. I was told I could be here." While Minoru had asked Hatori, she had to get permission from Akito. Akito agreed almost immediately, which was cautious about but didn't question it.

"The order comes from your brother. He did mention that it would not take long and you'll be able to come back."

Etsuko sighed. That's when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Minoru was gave a small smile. "It's ok, you don't live far. Go, and then we'll have hotpot together."

"Min…but the countdown."

He gently pushed her towards the door. "I'm sure whatever it is, it's important. I'll be waiting. So make sure you come back."

Etsuko put her shoes on and as the man walked down towards the car, she turned around. "I'm sorry. Please save me a bowl." She fought back tears. As she caught up with the man and got into the car she watched the apartment become smaller and smaller as they drove away. "Of course, why did I think I could have a nice time." She said to herself.

Once they reached the main house she walked towards the area where the banquet was being held. As she walked by the other rooms she noticed one room that was slightly ajar. It was pitch black, but as she walked by she swore she could see and outline of a person. She stopped and took a few steps back to look again. "Who's there?" She stepped closer to the door. This time she could see the figure belonged to a woman, a very shapely woman. Etsuko saw a pale and slender hand coming towards her. Suddenly, the door was slammed shut causing her to jump.

"Pardon me Miss. You mustn't worry about that person."

"Who was it?"

The man locked the door. "Someone who is very sick, an outsider, seeking help. Now, enough of this, your brother is waiting." The man gently guided her down the hallway. They eventually made it the banquet hall. Etsuko stood in front of the door, her nerves getting the best of her. For so many years this was a place she was never allowed to join. While everyone had fun, she sat in her room alone. " .now." the man said a bit frustrated.

"Oh…right." Etsuko opened took a deep breath and opened the door. The room had been decorated from top to bottom. It was magical, and festive. She looked around and noticed that the members of the zodiac were lined up on either side of the room. Everyone, almost everyone, was dressed in beautifully. Momiji more elegantly than the rest.

"Etsuko." Akito's voice brought her back to reality. "This is quite the event isn't it? And here you are…in pajamas."

Etsuko felt her face turn red. She didn't even think about changing. "I'm sorry…I didn't…know"

Akito waved his hand. He was at the head of the two lines. "Have a seat next to me. This is where Yuki would have been, but he decided to not show up." Akito said through gritted teeth.

She made her way from the door to the seat next to him. She caught a few of the family member's eyes but no one said anything. Perhaps they couldn't, or perhaps they didn't want to. Once she made it in front of Akito she looked at him for a moment. She bowed, a gesture that threw Akito off a bit. "Thank you for allowing me here, even if it's just for a little bit. She stood straight and then walked over to the seat he had offered her.

"You're welcome, and I'm sorry that I took you away from your festivities. I'm sure that boy is waiting like a lost puppy." Akito snickered.

She had almost forgotten about Minoru, which made her feel badly now. "He understands."

Akito side-eyed his sister for a moment. "I asked you here because the announcement I'm about to make concerns you and the rest of the family." Akito stood up from his seat. "Only a few of you know that the head of family is in a very unique position. The image that is portrayed falls mainly on the head family. My father, being the former head, was given many women to choose from. He of course was seduced by some common maid."

Etsuko listened, she never knew how her father and mother got together, but she was told that his choice was not approved by everyone.

"When I was born, a partner was chosen for me. He came from a family that was worthy of caring the Sohma name. However, complications arose and the arraignment never went through. Until today that is." Akito paused and looked around to gauge the reaction.

Etsuko looked at Hatori who gave her a subtle look of "I don't know what's going on."

"The Nakamura family has reached out with proposal. Their youngest son, Ryota is a third year at a very prestigious high school. They asked if I would consider him as a partner for Etsuko."

"WHAT?!" Etsuko shot up from her seat. "What did you just say?"

Akito smiled and turned to look at his sister. "You are to marry Ryota Nakamura. Don't worry though. It's not until after you graduate high school.

"Who are you to tell me who I will or won't marry?"

Akito walked quickly towards her, causing Etsuko to step away out of fear. Etsuko wasn't fast enough and Akito had slapped her across the face. Hard enough for Etsuko to fall to the floor. "Who am I? I am the head of this family. What I say is law!" He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back. "I let you have your fun. You got to play pretend with that Ingrid of a boy. It's over now."

Etsuko winced. She knew that no one would help her, maybe Hatori if this started to get really out of hand. She wanted to fight back. He was telling her how to live her love life now. She wanted to push him and punch him, but as she made eye contact with Kureno, his words resonated with her. Every time you do something to make Akito angry, he finds a way to take it out on one of us. So Etsuko shut her eyes, and eventually Akito let go of her hair. "Ok…I'm sorry." She stood up slowly. "I understand." She couldn't believe what she was saying. What she was agreeing to. "Can I go please?"

Akito only smirked and stepped aside. "Leave."

Etsuko walked out of the room as calmly as she could. So many thoughts and feelings were building up inside but she didn't want to show any more emotion than she already had. Once the doors closed behind her she fell to the ground. Her hand grasping at her heat, and tears falling down from her face and onto the floor. "This can't be happening."

"Are you alright?" A strange male voice asked. Etsuko looked at only the man's shoes. When she looked up she saw a young man with black hair, that needed to be cut since his bangs were covering his eyes, looked down at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Etsuko responded rather harshly.

The book squatted down to her level. "Now, I don't think that's entirely true. I don't meet many people on the floor crying but when I do…they certainly are not fine."

Etsuko looked at him. He was rather odd, and she thought he came off as a bit condescending. "I was just told that I have to marry some freakin stranger! Ok! So I'm not fine, happy!"

The boy raised his eyebrows. "An arranged marriage? How old school."

Etsuko wiped her eyes. "Yeah, tell me about it. He's probably ugly, and get this." She sniffed. "The guy is in his third year of school... I'm just a first year."

The boy nodded while she spoke. "He probably is pretty ugly, and he's older than you? So what…he's supposed to sit around while his future wife finishes high school. That's some old man creeper level shit right there." He stood back up straight and stuck his hand out towards her.

Etsuko grabbed it and pulled herself up off the ground. "Thank you…I'm Etsuko Sohma by the way. Who are you? I don't think I've seen you around the estate before."

The boy, who was at least two feet taller than Etsuko smirked. "My name is Ryota Nakamura. AKA your future husband."

Etsuko felt her mouth drop. This person in front of her, the person she was pouring her frustrations to, was her arranged marriage. She started to laugh. "That's funny. Nice joke. Okay well…thanks for your help stranger. I got to be on my way." She started to walk at brisk pace, which turned into a spring down the hall leaving Ryota standing by himself.

Ryota just smiled and put his hands in his pockets as he watched Etsuko leave. "Creeper level shit…" he snickered to himself. "This will be interesting."

Etsuko eventually stopped sprinting. She stopped to catch her breath. "Oh how awkward…how horrible." She noticed that she had stopped outside the door the driver locked only moments ago. I wonder who that was. Her hand went to the door knob, she tried to open it but remembering it was locked with a key she let out a small sigh.

"Hey."

Etsuko jumped at the voice of Ryota. She looked at him. "Stop following me." She took her hand off the door knob and spun around on her heels and started to walk down the hall towards the entrance of the house.

"I'm not technically following you. This is the only way out."

Etsuko had gotten over her initial embarrassment, and now she was just angry. "Leave after I leave so you're not accidentally following me."

"That's stupid." Ryota continued to walk behind her. "Where are you going?"

Etsuko quicken her pace. "None of your business."

Because of the height difference, Ryota didn't have to exert too much energy to keep up. His stride was longer than hers even at speed walking. "I mean…you're my fiancé now…so it kind of is."

That word, fiancé, cause Etsuko to cringe. "Don't say that word."

"What word?"

"You know what word I'm talking about." He was so infuriating. Was he making fun of her, was her flirting or maybe he was just an ass all the time.

"I don't. Should I not say you're…or my?"

Etsuko stopped abruptly causing Ryota to run into her. "Fiancé, don't say that I'm your fiancé."

"But you are."

"UGH! I am not!" Etsuko placed a finger in the center of his chest and started to poke him, rather hard. "I am already dating someone. I didn't sign anything, I didn't agree to anything. We are not going to get married. Understand?"

Ryota looked at the finger that was being jabbed into his chest. He took her wrist and took a few steps towards her making her walk backwards. He made her walk like this until they reached the door. He pinned her wrist above her head and he moved in close. "So…you're dating someone?"

Etsuko felt her face turn red as he made he walk backwards. When he pinned her hand above her head, he was gentle about it. He was grabbing her harshly, he didn't look angry. "Y-yes."

"That's a problem then." Ryota stood there in that position for a while longer. He took his phone out and smiled. "I don't want to marry a girl who hates me. So I'm going to win you over."

Etsuko found it uncomfortable to be standing like this. A man pining her down, and then just staying like that. She wondered why he kept looking at his phone. "Win me over? By doing what?"

Ryota looked at his phone one more time. "Well the first thing I'm going to do is get to know you better."

His constant phone checking was actually starting to anger her. "We don't even go to the same school. And if you think I'll come back to this house…you have another thing coming."

"Almost." He disregarded her threat.

Etsuko tried to pull her arm down from his grip but to no avail. "Almost what? Would you let me go and stop looking at your phone?"

Ryota put his phone in his pocket and smiled. He leaned in super close to her now. His face only a few inches away. He brought his other hand to her chin he gently grabbed it. "Make a wish."

"What are-"she was cut off by Ryota's lips pressing against hers. He wasn't forceful, and his lips were soft. When he pulled away he let go of her wrist.

"Happy New Year. I hope you made a wish. I did." Ryota stood there waiting for her reaction.

Etsuko brought her hand up to slap him across the face. "You ass."

Ryota caught her wrist before it hit him. He shut his eyes and sighed a bit. "I guess I deserve that reaction. I just couldn't help myself. I really wanted to be your first kiss of the New Year. I'm sorry, you should go see your boyfriend now." He opened the door causing Etsuko to stumble backwards a bit. Ryota wrapped his other arm around her waist to stop her from falling to the ground. "I'll see you around Sohma."

Etsuko was filled with some many emotions and thoughts that she had almost forgotten that Minoru was waiting for her. She looked at him in disgust. "You won't." She turned and bolted off. Etsuko ran all the way to the apartment, which was farther than she realized. She ran up the stairs to his apartment door and knocked on the door and waited for him to answer.

Minoru answered rather quickly and was smiling when he opened the door. "Etsuko! Did you run all the way over here?" He popped his head out the door. "Where is that driver guy?"

Etsuko was breathing heavily. "I…want…" she tried to talk but she couldn't form the words. Minoru brought her inside and brushed hair out of her face.

"Hot pot…I waited for you so we could eat together. I also saved my New Year's wish."

Etsuko leaned her head against his chest and then wrapped her arms around him. This was not how she planned to spend her New Year, and she would have to tell him about the turn of events but for now all she wanted to do was spend time with the person she loved. "My wish is to be with you."

Minoru hugged her back. He could tell that whatever happened rattled her up and he wanted to know, but he would let her take her time. "I like that wish." He scooped her up and walked towards the couch. "Now, let's eat!"

Etsuko laughed. "Way to ruin a moment."

"I'm sorry but I'm so hungry."

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to take so long."

"No worries. Now wait here and I'll go make some bowls." Minoru went to the kitchen and quickly came back with their dinner. The two of them talked and laughed and eventually snuggled up to watch a movie. Everything for the time being was perfect, but in the back of Etsuko's mind that kiss Ryota gave her was haunting her.


	13. Forgotten

“I love you Etsuko.” Ryota held her hands in his and moved closer to her. “I can’t wait to marry you.” 

“M-marry?” She tried to pull away but couldn’t. It was as if she were cemented to the ground. “I told you, I have a boyfriend.” She watched him slowly move close and closer to her. His lips pursed together, and eventually they pressed against her lips. 

When he pulled away he winked. “Now that wasn’t horrible was it Etsuko?”  
Etsuko could hear her name being repeated several times, first it was Ryota’s voice, then it changed to a different person. Either way it was annoying. 

“JUST SHUT UP!” She screamed as her head jerked up from her desk. 

There was silence and then a noise of someone clearing their throat. “Excuse me.” 

A feeling of dread rushed over her entire body as the realization of where she was finally hit her. It was all a dream and she was in class and just told her teacher to shut up. She knew that her classmates were partially just as horrified and partially trying to keep from busting up laughing. “Uhm...I…” she knew there was no way of saving herself. “I’m sorry.” 

The teacher pushed his glasses back up his nose and pointed towards the door without uttering another word. 

“Yes sir.” she hastily got up and left the room as quickly as possible. After closing the door behind her she leaned up against the wall and let out a sigh. “What the hell was I thinking?”she whispered to herself. 

“What did you do?” Hatsuharu asked while sitting outside, on the ground of his classroom. 

Etsuko looked a bit surprised when she heard him. What were the chances of two Sohma’s being kicked out of class, and in the same year. Then she remembered that this was the first time they had seen each other since the banquet. The slap to the face from Akito was still fresh in her mind as well as the fact that everyone did their best to avoid eye contact with her. She didn’t want to bring it up, or think about it. “I told Mr. Yamata to shut up.” 

“Ballsy.” Hatsuhar felt bad about the night of the banquet but he didn’t know how to bring it up or even if he should. 

“Well...I fell asleep in class and had a dream then told him to shut up...I wouldn’t call that ballsy. Why are you out here?” 

Hatsuhari tilted his head back, resting it against the wall, as if trying to remember. “Well..I’m pretty sure I yelled at this guy for bumping into me and not apologizing.” 

“You think?’ 

“It’s all a blur.” Hatsuharu shrugged it off.   
“He probably turned into black Haru.” she thought to herself. The two of them stayed in the hall-way in silence. Etsuko looked at the ground, trying to muster up the courage to break the silence, not knowing that Haru was doing the same thing. 

“Listen.” They both said in unison. “Oh sorry” they said once again at the same time. “Oh you go first.” the two couldn't break the pattern. 

Hatsuhari sighed a bit agitated. “You go first.”

“Ok. So I was just thinking about what happened at the banquet over break.” She looked at Haru for any signs telling her to drop the subject. She noticed that he slightly tensed up but was attentive. “If you could do me a favor and not tell Minoru about this whole...arrange marriage thing that would be really great. I don’t know how to bring it up but I am going to tell him. I just need time to figure out the best way.” 

Haru was a bit surprised that that was what she wanted to talk about. He was waiting for her to bring up that fact that he had done nothing when AKito attacked her. When she asked him not to tell Minoru about the marriage he let out a small sigh and brought his left knee up to his chest and rested his head down on it. “I’m...sorry.” 

Etsuko looked confused. “Sorry? Why are you sorry?” 

“Because I just stood by as you got hurt. I wasn’t brave enough to help you. I wasn’t man enough to do something about the shitty way Akito was treating you. I was scared of what would happen to...me.” He clenched his fists in anger and disgust. “I’m selfish.” 

She wanted to forget that part of the night. Pretend it never happened. “Stop.” She kept her gaze down towards the floor. “What happened that night..was all on Akito. They were his actions and his alone. If you tried to stop him...it would have made things worse for everyone.” She thought about her cousins. She thought how amazing it was that they were bonding for the first time. She thought about Tohru and how she was able to help everyone heal in some sort of way and it was because she had taken Kureno’s advice. “I’m the one that was selfish. I thought...I thought if I defied him, made it so he couldn’t stand me, he would just give up.That he would think I was a lost cause and exile me from the family.” She was trying to keep the tears from falling. She thought of every fight she had with him, everytime she tried to stand up for herself or run away, she thought about one of her cousins being punished for her actions. “Deep down...I think I knew that by defying him, it made him lash out on you and the others. I heard about it when the maids gossiped, I even saw it happen a few times but I just ignored it because...because it wasn’t happening to me so for a moment I was happy.” The tears began to fall to the ground. “Haru...I should be the one saying sorry but I can’t even do that, I just wanted to pretend that night didn’t happen.” 

Haru didn’t realize she had ever felt that way. Akito treated everyone horribly but at least he and the others were able to go home, or get away from him in some sort of fashion. Etsuko wasn’t as lucky, most of the time she was a prisoner in the main house. When he noticed that she was crying he stood up and walked over to her. Without saying anything he brought her into him and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He rested on his chin on top of her head. They stood there in silence until a teacher came out. When the teacher saw the two of them near each other he was about to scold them until he noticed that Etsuko had been crying. Instead he sighed and told her to go wash her face before returning to class. Haru’s teacher had eventually come out and told him he could rejoin the rest of the class. 

As Etsuko walked over to one of the sinks, located in the hall, she decided to take as much time as she wanted. Ever since the parent teacher conference she was much better at staying at school, so this was the best she could do. She made her way two flights of stairs until she made it to the first floor, where the third year students were located. Once at the sink, she turned the faucet on. As the water hit the stainless steel base of the sink and cascaded down the drain she became lost in thought. 

“I love you Etsuko.” A shadowy figure cooed while holding a younger version of herself. “Do you know why? It’s because you look like your father. Father loved me so much.” 

Etsuko, the current one, looked at the scene that was playing out in front of her. She couldn't make out the woman’s face. All that was visible was her raven black hair. “Mom?”

“Your brother doesn’t understand why you’re special.” The woman, Rin, played with young Etsuko’s hair. “That’s why I asked Hatori to…” her voice began to get more and more faint. The image began to blur and eventually disappeared. In its place, the scene changed to the park. The one that she had been to hundreds of times. She heard children's laughter coming from the wooded area and began to walk towards it. As she walked she stumbled onto the old run down house she and Minoru visited not too long ago. 

“I’m so hungry.” A familiar voice said. She looked around but couldn't see who the voice belonged to, but it was so familiar she just couldn’t pinpoint it. 

“I have some rice balls.” She then saw herself appear on the porch of the house. She was sharing the rice balls with a black silhouette. 

“These are amazing!” the black figure shouted. 

Suddenly, the scene changes once again. This time it was the black figures and hatori standing outside Akito’s care. Hatori had placed his hand over the figure's face. “Forgive me Etsuko.” Hatori whispered to himself.   
“Etsuko?” A voice brought her out of her trance. She looked over to see who it was and when she looked up she let out a small yelp. “Long time no see.” Ryota smiled. “What are you doing with the water running?” 

“That’s a very good question, New third year Student Ryota Nakamura! What are you doing Ms. Sohma!” Makato popped out from behind Ryota. “Not only are you wasting water, but you’re on the wrong floor. First year students are to use first year sinks, unless it’s a passing period, morning or at the end of the day. I don’t care if you are Yuki Sohma’s cousin, rules are rules!”

Etsuko was confused, surprised, and now a little angry. She did remember why she was at the sinks and realized that her eyes were probably still red and a bit puffy while standing there. “Oh…” she turned to the running water and quickly splashed her face with the water, to maybe cover up the fact she was crying. However, she didn’t think it through. There wasn’t a towel at the sink so the water dripped from her face. She turned the faucet off. “I was just...washing my face.” 

The two of them looked a bit surprised that she had done that. Ryota had noticed her red eyes from before and wondered what she was crying about. He also found it a bit cute that she had just splashed water on her face to hide the fact she was crying. “Here.” he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. 

“So chivalrous!” Both Makoto and Etsuko thought to themselves in unison. 

Etsuko took his handkerchief and dried her face, then handed it back to him. He shook his head. “It’s yours now.” he smiled. 

It had just dawned on Etsuko that she was seeing Ryota at her school, and wearing the school’s uniform. “What...are you doing here?”

He smiled and showed her his name badge. “I go here now.” 

Makoto had been curious about how the two knew each other. He knew that Ryota was not a relative, but the prestige of the Sohma name and the previous school Ryota went to, one could deduce they knew each other from outside. “Ms. Sohma. That is not how you should address a new student, especially one who is older than you. As you are well aware, a first year or second year student should address all third year students as senpai, as its politie.”

There was a long pause. Etsuko looked at Makoto, noticed that he was completely serious. She then looked at Ryota, and the ever so slight smirk on his face. She began to grind her teeth. The thought of calling him senpai made her physically ill. But knowing how Makoto was, she probably wasn’t going to get out of it. 

“Well?” Ryota asked innocently.

Etsuko let out a small sigh of defeat. “Makoto senpai…I’m sorry but I can’t do that.” 

“And why not Ms. Sohma? Do you take pride in making our new student feel unwelcomed? I always thought that the Sohma family knew something about respect.” 

Ryota raised his hand to signal Mokoto to stop talking. “I appreicate you wanting me to feel welcomed. However, it’s quite alright. You’re making a big deal for no reason.” 

Mokoto and Etsuko both looked at him. Mokoto was lost for words “B-But at this school we pride ourselves-” 

“She can’t call me senpai because she’s my fiance. It’d be a little weird don’t you think?” he smiled and looked at Etsuko from the corner of his eye.   
There was, what seemed like an eternity of silence. Etsuko wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly. To her it sounded as if he announced that the two of them were getting married. She was frozen both physically and mentally. 

“You two are engaged?” Even for someone as traditional as Mokoto, arranged marriages were a bit too old school even for him.

“Don’t you know that she is part of the head of the Sohma Family?” 

Etsuko could hear everything that was being said, and with every new piece of information being shared the more she was incapable of moving. 

“Head of the family?” Mokoto never thought of the Sohma family being big enough to need a head, but it made sense due to all the family members just coming to his school. “Impossible. Yuki Sohma...I was certain if anyone was in charge of a family it would be him!”

He scoffed. “You think Yuki...a second rate citizen in comparison would be worthy of running such a clan? That worthless piece of-” He was cut off by a hand slapping across his mouth. 

“That’s enough.” Etsuko had to stretch in order to reach his mouth, but she wasn’t going to let him continue to speak poorly of Yuki. “If we're talking about second rate citizens, you would fall under that category Ryota...senpai.” 

He looked down at her, he could tell that she was angry and he found it cute. He looked over at Mokoto and noticed that he was still having a hard time understanding how Yuki was not as important as he thought. When she called him senpai, even though it was meant to be condescending he smiled and removed her hand from his mouth. “My apologies.” He held her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “I didn’t know you were fond of your cousins. I also can tell you didn’t want me to parade our relationship around. Why don’t you come to my class, 3-A so we can go over some boundaries.”

As much as she didn’t want to spend any more time with him, he brought up a good point. Minoru wasn’t at school today so this would be her only chance to be alone with him and in turn it would make it easier to explain to Minoru later. “Fine.” she pulled her hand away. “Until then keep your mouth shut.” She turned to Mokoto, who was still taking the news badly. “I’m sorry to bother you...both. I’ll be heading back to class.” She quickly bowed and scurried away. 

The morning went by fairly quickly and it reminded uneventful. History was boring. English was pointless, but then physical education which was her favorite subject. She and the rest of her class made their way to the gym. The girls went to their changing rooms and the boys to theirs. 

“Hey Etsuko, can I ask you a question?” One of the girls asked as she slipped on her gym shirt.

“If it’s about my cousins. Yuki and Kyo are too old for you and not interested, Momiji doesn't even understand girls and Hatsuharu is taken still.” 

“No, I heard you have finance.” The other girls all gasped. The crowded around.   
“Eh? Really Etsuko?” A girl asked. 

“Wait...you and Minoru aren’t already thinking about marriage are you? You two haven’t even been dating for a year.” 

Etsuko was finishing tying her shoes, she was trying to stay as calm as possible. “What do you mean? Who told you something like that?”

“One of my friends in 3-A told me. She said some new guy transferred and his introduction was all about how he came here because he was engaged to a Sohma and well you’re the only female Sohma here.” 

Etsuko pulled on her laces tightly. “That little shit.” she growled to herself under her breath. 

“Well?” a group of girls all said in unison. “Is it true?” 

Etsuko stood up from tying her shoe. “No.” she walked out of the changing room and headed to the rest of the class who were sitting on the ground in front of the teacher. 

“I think it would be so romantic to have your husband picked out for you.” a girl whispeared as the teach was explaining the lesson. 

“Ew. No way! We can’t all be lucky and snag a hottie like that new guy. We’d probably end up with the normal guys like the ones in our class.”   
“Hey!” a boy from their class that was within ear shot hissed. “Shut-up and listen or he’ll make us all run laps.”

The girl just rolled their eyes but eventually stopped talking. The class activity was playing back-ball. Etsuko was able to get her classmates to drop the subject and class had finished fairly quickly. Once they all changed and headed back to the classroom it was lunch time. The day’s lunch was pork cutlets, with cucumber salad and a tangerine. Each person was assigned a job every week. Etsuko was in charge of plating up the pork cutlets. She put on her blue apron, a face mask, gloves and a hairnet on and started to place the pork on a plate as other kids started to serve each student. 

Normally the teacher would stay in the classroom but they had a short staff meeting to attend to so the only teachers around were the ones that monitored the halls. Each class ate in their respected classrooms and after the bell signifying lunch was over they were allowed to roam the halls and chat with friends from other classes. It was the free time that was making Etsuko nervous. She was supposed to meet up with Ryota to talk but she couldn’t find the will to move herself from her desk. 

“Hey Etsuko?” her classmate called her over to the door. Her face was a bit red from blushing. 

She walked over but didn't get too far when she saw who was at the door. The classmate that called her over went up to her and gently tugged on her shirt. “I’m sorry! He told me not to say who he was because you wouldn’t come. He’s too cute to say no.” 

Ryota had managed to find her class, as he walked up to the third floor he received a lot of stares and heard a lot of girls giggling or saw them run away. He decided to use his good looks and charm to get one of them to show him the class and to call Etsuko over to the door. When she walked over he leaned against the door frame and smiled. “Did you forget about me?” 

Etsuko did her best to look and sound indifferent. She didn’t need any more rumors. “No. Let’s go.” she walked under his arm and headed down the hall. 

He watched her duck under him. He looked at the group of girls who were listening and winked towards them. “Thanks ladies.” With that he followed her down the hall. Once he caught up to her he matched her pace. He hadn’t really noticed the height difference, he practically had to bend over to be at the same level as her. “So, where are we going.” 

“On the roof.” Etsuko replied rather bluntly. 

Ryota knew she was upset because he had spilled his guts out to his class and word traveled fast. The two walked up to the roof, it was still winter so it was not the most ideal place. Ryota crossed his arms and began to shiver. “K-Kind of cold don’t you think?” 

It was, but she hadn't thought of it all the way through and she was too stubborn to admit her mistake. “I’m fine, and this will be short.” She turned to face him. “I understand that our families made a deal. I’m not an object that can be promised to anyone, I’m not interested in you, I’m sorry. So if you could please leave me alone...let me be.” 

“Believe it or not, I wasn’t planning on this arranged marriage.” His tone had turned serious. “As I'm sure you know, my older brother was the one who was supposed to marry into the family. I was able to live my life pretty care-free.” 

“Then why are you so...excited if you were care-free?” 

Ryota leaned against the door. “We both come from families that are very rich. Your family is better off than mine so maybe it’s different for you. But for me, I was living my life care-free because no one really paid any attention to me. They didn’t care if I was going well in school or if I had dropped out and moved away. The focus was all on my brother. If I made the top class, my brother would be at the top of the school. When his marriage with your family fell through they did everything in their power to find him a new wife that would suffice. All they cared about was status. That’s why when Akito reached out it made me visible to them. Sure they saw me as a status symbol but they finally saw me. I know it's not a great reason...that’s why I transferred, I want to get to know you.”

Etsuko had never thought something like that could happen. To be ignored must be just as hurtful as being a target. She thought about why the two were matched. The Sohma name was well known, perhaps nothing like the Ford name or the Rockerfeller name but in the world of business the name Sohm brough respect. It was a power house name just like the Nakamura name. The Nakamura family always fell short of Sohma's in almost everything. Whatever the Nakamura’s did, Sohma’s could do it better. 

“I’ll do it.” She couldn’t believe that the words were coming out of her mouth. The thought of her earlier conversation with haru kept playing in her head. Selfishness was what she was being if she didn't go through with it. She thought about the possible ramifications in going against Akito. She didn’t want to make her family hurt because she wanted to be care-free. “I was told that I didn’t have to marry you until after I’m done with high school. Well...that’s how long you have.” 

Ryota raised a brow. “How long do I have...to do what?” 

Etsuko thought about Minoru. How he helped her in so many ways. Without him she wouldn’t be able to smile. He was there for her when she needed him. “That’s how long you have to make me love you.” She knew that she would still have to explain everything to Minoru and he may very well call it quits but at least she could spend her high school years with him before she would have to end it, but at least for the two years she could be selfish and happy. 

“Two years to make you fall in love with me?” Ryota smiled. “It’s all about that Min kid right?” Akito had told him at a meeting with his parents that he wouldn’t have to worry about the boy named Minoru. He was only temporary. Ryota liked a good challenge. “Deal.” He stuck out his hand towards her. 

She looked at it and rolled her eyes as she shook it. “Let’s get out of here.” The two of them walked back inside. Ryota had convinced her to walk him back to his classroom because he didn’t want to get lost. So the two of them walked down the stairs, from the third floor to the second floor where the passed Kyo, Tohru, Uotani and Hanajima playing cards. 

“Did you hear, those two are engaged.” some second year boy whispered loud enough for Tohru and the other to hear. 

“No way! That’s one of the Sohma’s I guess its not unusual for them to match up with other attractive people.” 

“Hey carrot top, isn’t that your cousin they’re talking about?” Uotani asked as she looked at her cards. 

“Yeah, what about it?”

“What’s this talk about arrange marriages? Sound shitty to me.” 

“What do I looke like? Her Keeper?” Kyo was angry because he had no good cards. 

Uotani kicked the chair he was sitting in. “You should know what’s going on in your family dumbass!” 

Kyo flared his arms trying to regain balance. “Well I dont! And I don’t care!” 

“I heard from one of the girls in the Yuki fan club that the man transfered here from Kokusai high school.” Hanajima chimed in. 

“Kokusai?!” Tohru gasped. “Wow, he must be really smart. That’s the best high school in Japan.” Tohru started to picture him studying feverishly. 

“Why the hell did he come here then? He’s a third year and we only have like half the school year left. What an idiot giving up his spot like that.” Uotani placed a few cards down on the table. 

Tohru wondered if this sudden change had to do with Akito. She hadn’t seen much of Etsuko since she met Minoru, but it made her happy that she seemed to be doing better. 

“I think it’s kind of romantic to be betrothed to someone.” Hana placed her cards down. “You don’t have to waste time being with someone who eventually won't work out.” 

“Like hell it is!” I don’t want anyone telling me what to do or who to marry.” 

“As if anyone would even want to marry a disgusting creature like yourself.” Yuki seemingly showed up out of nowhere. 

“Where the hell did you come from! And who asked you anyway you damn rat!” Kyo placed his cards angrily on the table. 

‘“Shigure told me once he got back from the new year's visit to the house that Aktio had arranged Etsuko to be married. I’m sure it was difficult to hear.” Tohru looked a bit sad and Yuki could tell. He bent down and whispered in her ear. “Play this card.” 

Tohru did as he told her and when she placed the card down Kyo jumped up. “Damn you!” 

“Oh I’m sorry...I didn’t know you’d lose. Should I just pick it back up.” 

Kyo rubbed his neck and slowly sat back down. “No. You’re fine.” 

The group went on and continued to play with no more talk of Etsuko and her marriage. The day itself went by fairly fast. Etsuko felt better about the whole situation, she had time to go see Minoru at home and explain everything to him. She wasn’t sure what his reaction would be, but she knew that they could work it out. Once the bell for school to end rang she got up and gathered her stuff. She met up with Momiji and Hatsuharu at the front gate, as they often walked home together. Etsuko was living at the main again, simply because it was closer to Min. The three of them talked and had a good time. Once at the main estate they said the farewells as they went back to their respected homes. Etsuko entered the main house doors. She looked down and noticed someone else’s shoes were in her way. “Weird. Akito doesn’t get many visitors.” She changed from her outdoor shoes to her indoor shoes and walked to her room. She wanted to change before going over to Minoru’s place. When she opened the door to her room she looked at her chair and saw his backpack. “What…” Panic started to run through her body. If his bag was in her room, that meant he was here at the main house...alone. She dropped her bag and ran out of her room and down the hall. There was only one place he could be.She stopped in front of her brother's room. She slid the door open harshly only for her to see Akito standing behind a kneeling Minoru and Hatori standing in front of him, his hands placed on Minorus eyes. 

It was too late. She knew it that what was going on in this room had already happened. She fell to her knees just outside his door. Akito looked over and tilted his head. “You’re home early.” 

“W-what did you do.” Etsuko was only able to whisper. 

Akito smirked and walked over to her. “I gave it a lot of thought dear sister. I realized that there was a possibility of you backing out of the arrangement, and we can’t have that. So I made your choice very easy. Well...I should say Hatori made your choice very easy.” 

“H-Hatori.” Tears began to form. She couldn’t describe the feelings going on inside her.

Hatori stood there, he felt ashamed of what he had to do but Akito ordered him to do it even after he explained the issues that could happen. “I’m sorry.” He didn’t know what else to say or do. 

“Where am I?” Minoru asked as if he was coming out of a slumber. 

Akito smiled sadistically. “Young man, you are at my house. You were wandering around and I think someone mistook you for a robber and knocked you out with their cane. The older folks around her are a little on edge. Our family doctor has looked you over and says you just have a mild concussion.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to trespass. I didn’t even realize this place was here.” 

“Don’t be sorry. Mistakes happen. My sister would be happy to walk home to make sure you get there safely. Wouldn’t you Etsuko?” 

Minoru looked at Etsuko for a bit. “Etsuko Sohma? You’re the girl who transferred at the beginning of the year right? Nice to finally meet you. I’m in class 1-D.” He smiled and it was in that moment that Etsuko knew undoubtedly that his memories here were gone. 

A/N: Hello everyone! Oh My goodness, first I want to thank you for all the love you leave. Thank you for your patience. I know that it can be annoying when writers don’t update, but life gets in the way. I hope everyone is doing well, and staying safe with COVID being out there. If you’ve been laid off, I’m so sorry to hear that. If you’re considered essential please take precautions when working! We will get through this!


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